


My fists will kiss your pain away

by Eremit



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, or rather enemies to neighbors to friends to fake boyfriends to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 29,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21945109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eremit/pseuds/Eremit
Summary: His eyes rested on Sasuke’s profile and he felt at peace.  The sensation was still there, slowly simmering in his underbelly and even if his hands were still itching to reach towards Sasuke, he didn’t want to punch him. Naruto couldn’t believe how comfortable he felt around Uchiha when a month ago they were at each other’s throats.One shot split into two, with Naruto’s stealing habits, dubious truth, and a very strong gut feeling without a name.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 18
Kudos: 272





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for all your comments on the last fanfic, you are truly amazing!
> 
> I've written his fanfic for myself, because it's my first Christmas without my family and I needed some fluff to lift my spirit. I thought that maybe some of you guys would enjoy it so, here we go!
> 
> I apologize for any mistakes, I'm trying to get better.

Uzumaki Naruto woke up feeling great.

It was one of those rare days, when he didn’t have to drag himself to the lectures at his uni, or mingled around the elementary school during work. Today, without any adult responsibilities, he could do anything! He could spend the whole day under his blankets and torture his hard working friends with photos of his lazy day, he could play video games in his pyjamas and not feel guilty, he could catch up on all TV series he had abandoned, eat some crisps for breakfast without Iruka’s complaining about his poor diet… All those endless possibilities made Naruto giddy with excitement and he could feel in his gut, that today would be an amazing day!

He quickly jumped out of the bed and ran up to his bathroom. Uzumaki showered, brushed his teeth as fast as possible, and reached for a hairdryer. His stomach was grumbling loudly and Naruto felt he needed to speed things up, before that hungry demon in his belly would start to devour him from the inside.

The thought of quick, easy breakfast was rather tempting, but on the other hand he could go crazy today! Like big portion of scramble eggs, greasy bacon, pile of butter toasts, pancakes with maple syrup and donuts! All the donuts!

All that thinking about food made his mouth water and his stomach aggressively rumbled and Naruto pushed the heat on the hairdryer to maximum. Just a moment longer and he would be in the food heaven, leaving all what’s bad behind and…

“UZUMAKI!”

Naruto switched off the hair dryer and stopped with his hands over his head, listening closely. His eyes narrowed, because he could swear he heard someone yelling his name. But now, the only thing his ears were able to pick up was the sound of water droplets escaping from the tab and the faith buzz of his neighbour's fridge. He was about to finish his drying, when he heard it again.

“UZUMAKI! OPEN THE DOOR!”

Naruto’s head peeked through his bathroom, looking for the source of the noise. Indeed, someone was pounding on his front door passionately and he reluctantly trotted towards it. For a moment he thought about putting on some more clothes, not entirely sure how he felt about some intruder gaping at him in his underwear, but honestly, he couldn’t be bothered, not today.

“I’m coming! Jeez” Naruto shouted back and looked around for his keys.

Uzumaki’s fingers worked around the lock, but before he was able to grasp a knob, someone else wrenched the door open.

“You idiot.”

Fucking fuck… Of course, it must have been _him_.

In front of him stood none other than his annoying neighbour next door, wearing only his boxers and murderous gaze. The first thought that came to Naruto’s mind was to smack the door in front of the other’s face.

“Not today, Uchiha” he hissed back and was ready to push Sasuke back to the hallway, but that bastard must have had expected that. He swiftly dodged Naruto’s reaching hands and shamelessly let himself into Uzumaki’s room. 

Naruto had none of it. Today was supposed to be good. No smug bastards, no fighting, just him and his breakfast donuts…

Before he could think, the familiar fire in his belly was blazing, making his skin hot and his fists bawling. There was something about Sasuke that made Naruto loose his patient almost immediately and the tension and anger building inside him was taking over. Deep desire of pushing and smashing his neighbour on the wall surfaced to the top, leaving very little room for rational thinking. And Uzumaki hated that. He hated how easily Sasuke pushed his buttons, how little self control he had when his neighbour was around, how his whole body reacted to Uchiha’s presence. But even more, he couldn’t stand those deep black eyes looking at him without a trace of emotions. So he would push and taunt and spit, just to see Sasuke’s face twisting with anger and annoyance.

At the back of his head, Naruto heard Iruka’s voice saying that violence didn’t solve issues, so despite his clenched jaw and narrowed eyes, he decided to reason with Uchiha.

“That’s transpassing” Naruto hissed, stomping behind the other boy. 

“It’s trespassing, you moron” Uchiha answered, roaming around Naruto’s bathroom.

Uzumaki felt the hot blush creeping on his cheeks and he swore to god, no one was pissing him off as much as that bastard.

“Just get the fuck out of my room!”

“Gladly."

And when Naruto thought that maybe they managed to solve the issue without fighting, Sasuke reached toward his hairdryer and tugged it under his arm. Naruto looked at him with dumbfounded expression. What the actual fuck was Uchiha doing?

Sasuke passed him and moved towards the entrance, small smirk on his lips, and before Uchiha could get away, Naruto’s hand shoot in his direction.

“Let go, idiot ” Sasuke snapped, trying to shake off other hand.

That fucking arrogant bastard, walking into his room, taking his things like he owned them.

Blue eyes darted to Uchiha’s distant face, black eyes calm and cold and he was on verge of losing it . He was pissed and hungry and something was taking control over him. His hands painfully tighten around Sasuke’s wrist and when Uchiha narrowed his eyes and his cold free hand collided with Naruto’s bare chest, that was it. Uzumaki’s blood was boiling, pulse speeding up and oh god, how he hated that impassive face. 

Uzumaki pushed Sasuke on the wall, his hands wrestling with neighbour, dryer lost somewhere on the carpet.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Uchiha shouted and tried to wiggle his way from Naruto’s hold. “Just give me back the dryer and fuck off.”

Naruto was far past the hairdryer problem, when his fingernails dug into Sasuke’s skin and blue eyes were stuck on the black one's. His neighbour’s close proximity was making him so extremely fixated and he felt his body moving closer.

“What the fuck is wrong with YOU!?” Naruto yelled back, face millimetres away from Sasuke’s. “You’re banging on my door, calling me names and now you are stealing my things!”

“That’s mine! I have lecture in 30 minutes and I’m dripping wet because some half-brain fool took my hairdryer!”

Naruto moved his eyes from Uchiha’s intense gaze and looked at his hair. Indeed, it wasn’t as spiky as usual, black strands were down, his bangs plastered to his forehead and somehow Sasuke looked… different. For a moment, Naruto felt ridiculous, all that shouting and pushing because of a hairdryer, but when he saw Sasuke’s deep eyes focused on him, his hands still above his head and finally, his face was twisted with emotions, Naruto knew that there was something more behind all that. 

“Am I interrupting?”

Two heads jerked in the direction of the door.

“Mom?” Naruto stated, dumbfounded, his hands slowly letting go of Uchiha’s wrists.

Because of Uchiha’s intrusion, Naruto had forgotten to close the door and Kushina was now standing in the entrance. Her eyes were moving from one boy to another, her assessing gaze stopping at Sasuke.

“I can come some other time…” she said with a little nice smile on her lips, but Naruto knew that smirk and he was certain his mom was plotting something.

“No need” Sasuke answered, meeting Kushina’s gaze.

Uchiha pushed his finger in the middle of Naruto’s chest and blond backed out. But when his neighbour harshly bumped his arm with the him, Uzumaki ‘s hands were already reaching forward and he wanted nothing more than to have Sasuke pinned underneath him again. However, his mom eyes were still stuck on them. He could tell she was enjoying every second of that shit-show.

Before Uchiha walked out through the door, he snatched the hairdryer from the carpet and without a word disappeared in a hallway.

Kushina’s eyes were following the boy outside, and with theatrical cough he snatched his mom’s attention back to himself.

“What are you doing here, mom?”

“Well, I brought your correspondence, since you didn’t bother with coming home on the weekend.”

Naruto saw that his mom picked up few of his clothes from the floor and simply pushed them into his arms. Uzumaki made an attempt to dump that pile back on the ground, but with one pointed look from his mom, he changed his mind. 

“Why is it so messy?” Kushina whispered to herself and pushed some empty ramen cups with her foot.

“It’s art, mom!” Naruto shouted from the bathroom.

Uzumaki entered the room again, now wearing blue hoodie and joggers and he was praying his mom wouldn’t notice that they were the same clothes she’d picked up from the floor. He was manoeuvring between the piles of boxes and cables scattered around the floor to reach his bed.

“See? It’s like my private obstacle course,” he said with a big smile and met his mom’s unimpressed eyes.

“Eh, no wonder your boyfriend was mad.”

Naruto stopped dead in track and turned his head towards his mom. Kushina was standing in the same safe spot, close to the door, her one hand digging through her purse, the other one blocking the view of the mess in front of her.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” he stated, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

Kushina’s eyes moved back to him, one hand on her hip, one brow arched and Naruto felt the spikes of nervousness in his belly.

“You want me to believe that your neighbour came in here in his underwear to just platonically stare into your eyes?”

“Mom!” Naruto yelled, blush creeping on his cheeks. “ I live in a dorm, I have weird neighbours!”

“Right” Kushina rolled her eyes with a small smirk. “We can play that game if you want”.

He grasped the pile of envelopes entrusted in his hands and he didn’t trust the slick smile his mom was sending him.

“Just bring your weird neighbour- boyfriend to our family gathering.”

_______________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was stuffing his cheeks with donuts and laughing to himself at his mom’s words. Because there was no way, he would bring Sasuke Uchiha to his family meeting. He’d survived enough family gatherings to know very well that bringing anyone to that type of reunion was hell.

Of course, family gatherings were always a lot of fun and good excuse to drink with your relatives, but when the Uzumaki and the Senju got involved, it became pretty hectic pretty quick. And Naruto was used to that madness, because he was a part of that since he could remembered. However, bringing someone who wasn’t a family member into that mad house could be catastrophically for any relationship. His cousin once made that mistake and to be honest, that was the last time they’ve heard from her ex-boyfriend ever again. So, if someone decided to invite their partners, it meant that the shit got real and very often it was a make-or-break situation. You’d survived the meeting and became a part of the family or it’d be the last time you were seen.

And honestly, Naruto was proud that he’d avoided the “bring partner to the gathering” scenario for that long. Not because he managed to talk himself out of the situation, but because Naruto Uzumaki, during his 24 years of living, never has been in a serious relationship. To be honest, he didn’t know if he ever was in any kind of relationship. His family would try to insinuate his potential romantic involvement with his different friends or try to play matchmakers, but he would always stick with his single man status. He loved his friends very much, but not in the way his family was insisting on. He trusted his guts and his instinct, so he was sure that if he met the right person, he would feel it. And it just hadn’t happened yet. Naruto couldn’t say he felt lonely. He had his amazing friends, supportive family and a lot of work with his studies . If he wanted to achieve his goals, he needed to focus on his work and getting into someone else’s pants wasn’t on his to do list. At least for now.

Naruto knew his mom would bring the boyfriend talk again, especially since she’d caught Uchiha parading in his underwear around Uzumaki’s room, but the next family gathering will be around December and now Naruto had more important matter on his hands, involving more raspberry donuts and oreo pancakes.

________________________________________________________________________

It was November and Naruto was sulking. He ended the call with his parents and he felt exhausted.

He might have underestimated his mother’s devotion towards bringing Naruto’s supposed boyfriend to that faithful family gathering. Kushina called him at least once a week, asking about his “friend” next door and the way she emphasised the word “friend” was driving Naruto crazy.

No matter how many times he told her that Uchiha wasn’t his boyfriend or even a friend, Kushina ignored him and proceed talking about how everyone would be excited to meet Sasuke.

One day, Naruto was so fed up with his mom’s dismissive tone, that for the sake of his own sanity he started actually answering questions about Sasuke’s well being.

Well, as good as he could.

He wasn’t on speaking terms with Uchiha, more like shouting and hissing terms whenever they’ve seen each other, but still it wasn’t hard to notice some things when you lived next to someone. For example , he learnt that Uchiha ran every day after 8 pm, and that his music taste wasn’t so bad, and sometimes he would stay in the dorms on weekends, rather than go home. He never saw many people visiting Sasuke, few friends and that weird man, who Naruto once mistook with his neighbour.

And maybe Naruto caught himself thinking about Sasuke few more times than necessary, and maybe he started listening, if Uchiha was back in his room, and maybe he stopped referring to him as “Uchiha” during his call with his mom, but it didn’t mean he started to warm up to his neighbour! Now, he saw Sasuke as a parasite, which was constantly in his head, corrupting his thought.

Naruto knew they have started off their whole acquaintance on the wrong foot, and now Uzumaki couldn’t get rid of the suffocating tension every time his eyes landed on his neighbour. Because something in Uchiha, made his blood boil and his hands would reach towards him, and before he was able to process the whole situation, they were pushing each other around and getting on each other nerves. 

Naruto covered his eyes with arms and stretched on his bed. He could hear Uchiha’s shower running and before his mind would get stuck at Sasuke again, he needed to distract himself with something. Uzumaki reached for a textbook and searched for the most suitable subject for his tomorrow’s classes. Maybe his pupils didn’t need to go over negotiations one more time, but he just felt in the mood for more “I don’t think about”, “ I don’t know” and “I don’t care”.

_______________________________________________________________________________

It was around 4 o’clock and Naruto was at work, waiting with few fourth graders for their parents to come and pick them up after classes.

“You look weird, Mr. Naruto.”

Naruto stopped doodling and moved his eyes to the little girl next to him. Moegi was drawing with fierce face, her eyes stack on the paper in front of her.

“Good weird or bad weird?”

“Bad weird” Moegi stated, her hands reaching for different crayon. “ You are here, but you are not. Like a ghost.”

His eyes widened at that statement, because that couldn’t be true. Maybe he wasn’t so cheerful as usual, the whole situation with Sasuke still in his mind, but he managed to go through the whole day of lessons and an hour into afterschool club time, without any slip-ups. He answered all the questions, he was taking care of all his chores around the school and he had it all under control. 

But when he looked at his drawing and saw the stains of green crayon, starting from the picture and then spreading to the table, he thought that Moegi might have been right.

He sighted quietly, stretched his legs under small table, his feet peeking out at the end of the desk.

“I think I might have a problem” Naruto said cautiously.

The girl lifted her big black eyes on him and clasped her hands together, nodding her head with understanding. Uzumaki wanted to laugh a little bit, because she looked like one of the talk show hosts, listening to the drama.

“Oh, I can see that” she responded, her gaze sliding to table and over Naruto’s drawing on the desktop. “But I can help!”

Uzumaki saw as Moegi picked up his drawing and placed carefully on the spot on the table. The picture covered the scribbles perfectly and Moegi flashed him her wide smile.

“No one saw nothing” Naruto reassured, smiling back at her. “You’re really good with solving problems.”

“Because it was an easy one” Moegi added and got back to her own drawing. “The hardest problems are with cats.”

As much as Naruto wanted to go deeper into the problematic behaviour of cats, he decided to ask something else.

“What about problems with people?” he casually opened.

“Oh, that’s easy!” Moegi answered with the face of the expert on all the problems in the world. “We should talk about the problem and our feelings, then apologize and play again.”

Naruto hummed in understanding , because that’s sounded easy enough.

“I’ve tried that with cats” Moegi said with narrowed eyes and pout on her face. “It didn’t work.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto swayed to the beat of the song, waiting for his water to boil. He was catching up with his friends’ messages over their group chat. Damn, Iruka and his strict “no phone during school time” policy. Now Choji would have that awful beige cabinet that Sakura and Ino advised him to buy.

Uzumaki wondered if he should write to his friends about the whole Uchiha situation, especially since he was so done with the spam from Ino about Choji’s kitchen furniture. But on the other hand, after his friends’ laughter and teasing, they would probably said the same thing as Moegi.

He needed to talk with Uchiha.

And maybe, maybe apologise, if Sasuke apologizes first, of course! Because how hard could it be to chat a little bit with Uchiha without hissing at each other? They were two adults, with respectful jobs and Naruto was known for his smart mouth and empathetic approach towards people, so he should easily won Uchiha over.

He poured water into the instant noodles, the smell of spices hit his nose and he smiled at the thought of delicious, hot ramen. As he was ready to consume his food, he heard steps approaching in the hall, followed by slam of the door.

Naruto pondered for a moment, hot cup still in his hand, eyes focused on the small narutomaki floating on top. 

“Fuck it.”

Uzumaki pushed his ramen on the table and rushed through the entrance. He made his way towards Uchiha’s room and knocked repeatedly, until he heard the lock turning in the door. Sasuke’s black eye peered through the slit, and after seeing Naruto, he pushed the door further.

Sasuke looked at him, one eyebrow arched, his hand still on the knob.

Naruto took a big breath and opened his mouth but somehow nothing came out. The only words that came to his minds were “bastard” and “fuck you”, but that would be an awful introduction to the peaceful settlement . So he just looked at Uchiha, who was casually leaning on the doorframe, his face emotionless. Naruto felt anger sizzling under his skin. Something about Sasuke’s superior aura and intense gaze made Uzumaki impossible hot in so many different places and he didn’t know how to deal with it. He swallowed the lump in his throat, and he didn’t understand why his heart was hammering so quickly. 

Naruto stood there, eyes burning with determination and he felt frozen to the spot under Sasuke’s sharp look. That tempting thought to connect his fists with Uchiha’s face was slowly creeping on him and even though his fist were bawling on his sides and he wanted so badly to push Sasuke, he knew it wasn’t a good idea. It supposed to be a peaceful mission, which might help them resolve their issues, but here he was, wanting nothing more to call Sasuke names and drag him by his collar. 

After a whole minute of intense staring and tension raising, Naruto felt he couldn’t stand it any longer without causing a fight. He turned around, making his big exit, with his feet loudly stomping on the floor.

“Uzumaki.”

Naruto stopped in the middle of the hallway. Iruka’s words of destructive nature of fighting were playing in his mind on repeat and he knew he should have ignored Uchiha and moved to his room. But despite his instinct, he turned around.

Sasuke stood in the doorway, his arm crossed, small smile playing on his lips. And it should have been enough to drive Naruto crazy, but Uchiha’s eyes were shining in this light and his voice wasn’t mean and his heart was picking up the speed.

“You know how to fight, right?” Uchiha asked.

Of course, Sasuke wanted to fight. The mantra in his head was getting quieter and he knew he was failing his peaceful mission, but at least he finally found his voice.

“Yeah, well, I used to train some martial arts.”

Uchiha nodded his head, turning slowly towards his room.

“Meet me tomorrow at the gym around 7 pm.”

Naruto saw Sasuke disappearing behind the door without waiting for his neighbour response. Uzumaki blinked few times, trying to process the whole situation. His feet dragged him back to his room and he couldn’t hide his disappointment any longer. Because no matter what he would or wouldn’t do, he couldn’t reach an agreement with Uchiha. It would always lead to both of them fighting.

________________________________________________________________________________

It was a little bit past 7 and Naruto was walking towards the gym. Throughout the day, he thought about bailing. Every reasonable person wouldn’t give Uchiha satisfaction of riling him up and compel with his wish . But it would mean he ran away from the challenge and Naruto Uzumaki wasn't a quitter! If Uchiha was asking to be punched, he would prove that bastard to not pick fights with him! 

He pushed the door to the gym and saw Sasuke waiting for him in the hall. Without a word, Uchiha started walking towards the back of the gym and Naruto followed him silently. They entered the small room that looked very similar to every other dojo.

Sasuke dropped his bag on the bench in the back and started stretching. Blue eyes automatically moved over Uchiha’s back muscles flexing and the familiar pulling on his gut was back. He dropped his backpack and sighted.

“Did you rent a dojo for us to punch the shit out of each other?” Naruto asked.

Uchiha turned to him, his black eyes locking with blue, small smirk pulling at his lips.

“In a way.”

Naruto winced, because it could end up bloody and he couldn’t go to children covered in bruises. Black eyes narrowed at Uzumaki’s drawn face and he crossed his arms.

“It’s a sparring, usuratonkachi” Uchiha said. “You have all this aggression build up in you and rather than throwing each other around the campus, we could just spar in here.”

Oh, Uzumaki liked that idea. He looked at Sasuke’s challenging eyes, slightly raised chin and tilted head. After quick assessing of his opponent, he needed to admit that Uchiha was fit and Naruto hasn’t spared in like four year. Bastard definitely could take him down, but Sasuke didn’t need to know that, right? 

“I would say, no punching in the face, but I doubt you will be able to even scratch me” Naruto boasted with a cocky smile on his face. 

“Oh, don’t worry, I go easy on you” Uchiha said and motioned for the other boy to come closer.

Naruto puffed his chest and moved towards Sasuke with confidence in his step. His heart was hammering and he swore, if Uchiha kept looking at him that way, he would be next to him in a second.

“Do I look like someone you should go easy on, Uchiha?” Naruto asked with a smirk, matching Sasuke’s.

Black eyes dragged over Uzumaki’s body slowly, smirk still playing on his lips and that was all Naruto could take, before launching himself with fists towards Sasuke.

Uchiha let him collide with his body, his hand catching Naruto’s arm and swinging them the other way. Sasuke’s legs pushed his feet and Uzumaki lost his balance, tumbling down to the ground. In last second, he grabbed his opponent’s shirt and tossed him on the mattress next to him. Before Naruto could moved, Uchiha was hovering over him, making the attempted to pin other’s arm to the ground. Uzumaki dodged his attack and was able to bucked him off himself, but Sasuke quickly moved to his feet. Naruto looked at smirking Uchiha and couldn’t stop his own smirk as he reached his hands towards his ankles.

_________________________________________________________________________________

They fought, rolled around and exchanged punches for another 30 minutes and to Naruto’s surprise, he felt amazing. His heart was pounding in his chest, the only things he heard was his quicken breath, and he felt excitement bubbling inside him.

His back hit the mattress, hands pinned to the ground, Uchiha’s face looming over him. They were so close, that Sasuke’s bangs were tickling Naruto’s face, chests slammed together and he could feel Uchiha’s heartbeat matching his own.

And all of those sensations made him extremely happy. 

Naruto felt laugh bubbling in his throat and he couldn’t hold his happiness any longer. Even though it wasn’t entirely clear why he was so excited, because Uchiha basically had beat his ass and he would suffer from sore muscles for the next week. 

“Break?” Uchiha proposed.

Blond hummed in agreement, still no moving from his spot on the ground. His legs were wiggling, one arm still over his head, the other reached for a water Uchiha had handed him.

“It feels sooo good to be tired like that!” Uzumaki yelled, his eyes stuck at the other’s smiling face.

Uchiha sat next to him, his own water close to his lip. It was one of those rare occasions, when Naruto could actually take a closer look at his opponent.

Sasuke’s long strands of hair were tucked behind his ear, cheeks covered with a small blush, face relaxed. Naruto could see few scratches on his arms that must have appeared during their wrestling and a quite big reddening bruise on his bicep. 

Before Uzumaki could think, his hand was tugging so slightly at the hem of Uchiha’s shirt.

“You know” he started, his eyes back on Sasuke’s profile. “I thought you hated me.”

Sasuke lazily turned his head towards him, small smile playing on his lips.

“What is this, Uzumaki? A kindergarten?”

Naruto smiled back and it felt so good and so natural to just smile at Sasuke.

“But… things have happened between us and… and I don’t know. You were always looking at me all stern and venomously.”

“Because you were always making faces and trying to punch me” Sasuke answered and his eyes narrowed slightly. “I changed my mind, it sounds exactly like kindergarten.”

Naruto laughed loud and honest, and he moved closer, drew by Uchiha’s warmth. They sat like this for a few more minutes, Naruto’s hands still clenching Sasuke’s shirt, Uchiha’s knees bumping into his from time to time. The weariness started slowly creeping up on Naruto and he thought he could fall asleep like that, but Uchiha spoke again. 

“Did you actually thought I was holding any grudges?”

Naruto only nodded his head in response.

“Usuratonkachi, I let you borrow like half on my room.”

Uzumaki was quickly propping himself on his elbows and knocking his knee on Uchiha’s hip.

“Come on, I didn’t borrow that many things from you!”

“I’m pretty sure that at one point you managed to take away my toaster.”

Naruto couldn’t help the chuckle escaping from his mouth and he punched Sasuke playfully on the arm.

“You are such a bastard.”

“And you are an idiot “ Sasuke said and tilted his head back, lazy smile on his lips.

Naruto knew was now gaping, but he couldn’t shake away he feeling that Sasuke was looking really good. His eyes were the perfect shade of black, that deep colour making Uchiha’s pupils blending with his irises and they were just mesmerising. 

“You know…” he stated and shifted even closer to Sasuke. “ You’re welcome to come and collect your things.”

Uchiha turned his eyes towards him, intense gaze rested on his face and Uzumaki felt he could get used to seeing Sasuke’s face up that close.

________________________________________________________________________________

“Mr. Naruto, Konohamaru doesn’t want to move from the slide!”

Naruto was having the time of his life on the swings, chatting about videogames with kids from the fourth grade, when one of the children ran up to him and pointed at the slide. Uzumaki jumped from the swing and moved towards the wooden house, occupied by Konohamaru.

“Yo, Konohamaru, are you stuck?”

The boy was sitting with his arms crossed, cheeks puffed and he refused to even look at Naruto.

“Not in the mood for talking?” Naruto said and was trying to catch boy’s eyes ,but Konohamaru was persistent. “That’s okay, I’ll come and rescue you.”

Naruto saw Konohamaru’s eyes widening when he spotted him climbing the wall bars and coming closer. His head popped out from one of the windows and he flashed Konohamaru his best smile.

“You’re not going to move, are you?”

Konohamaru shook his head.

“I mean, I get it. I like this little house too” Naruto said and moved his gaze around the place. “That’s a nice colour of walls and that apple core in the corner! Love it. It’s also so breezy in here and who needs a roof in their house, right?”

Naruto saw Konohamaru’s lips quirking and his eyes moved to his teacher.

“So, can I stay here until the end of school?” the boy asked, his face firm.

“Oh, of course, but after playtime I always come to this house and practice my singing, so you better be ready for my one man show, acapella extravaganza Beauty and the Beast edition.”

“No! I don’t want that!”

“Too late, I’m getting in.”

Naruto was trying to squeeze into the house, leaving Konohamaru very little space, but the boy did his best not move from the spot. Uzumaki finally made it into the house and sat next to his pupil.

“You’re too big to be in here. There’s no room for me” Konohamaru pouted, when Naruto’s shoulders were pushing him further away.

“Yeah? Then leave.”

“I can’t!”

“And why is that?”

Konohamaru frowned and drew his knees closer to his chest.

“Because I’ve got into a fight with a kid from my neighbourhood. He punched me in the face and I have big bruise on my eye and my tooth fell out. Other kids are now calling me an ugly turtle” the boy whispered, without meeting Naruto’s eyes.

Uzumaki bite his lips. He tried to assess if Konohamaru’s injuries were as bad as he described, but the boy hid his head in the crook of his arm.

“You know, that fighting doesn’t solve problems, right?”

“Yeah, Mr. Iruka is always saying it.”

“Right. So maybe tried to talk with him and apologize and-“

“But Hidari is so annoying! He said I’m stupid, but he is stupid and dumb and- !”

“Okay, I get it” Naruto cut off, before Konohamaru would go too far.

He looked at boy shoulders tensing up again and he sank deeper inside the corner of the house. And Naruto knew what he was supposed to say to the kids who often solve their anger issue with violence and even thought Konohamaru tented to do that, it didn’t feel right to just send him to the counsel.

“ Turtles are cool” Uzumaki said out of the blue and bumped his arm with the boy. “ There was this cartoon about those super ninja turtles fighting and saving the city.”

“ You know Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?” Konohamaru asked and his eyes landed on Naruto’s smiling face.

“Duh, everybody knows them…. But! They were martial art experts, they had control over their powers and skills, because they didn’t wanted to hurt anyone. Even though they were kicking some villains’ butts, they were doing that to protect others” Naruto stopped talking for a moment and looked at Konohamaru, who was still pouting a little bit.

“Oh, I have an idea!” Naruto exclaimed and Konohamaru looked at him with interest in his eyes. “Nah, or maybe not. I don’t think you would like to be a ninja turtle.”

“I want to be a ninja turtle!” Konohamaru shouted with a determination in his eyes. “But I don’t know any martial arts…”

“Oh, yeah?”Uzumaki asked with a slick smile. “I could whisper a word or two to your parents on the next parents-teacher meeting about martial art classes.”

Konohamaru’s eyes were shining with excitement and he was ready to moved from the little house, but Naruto’s words stopped him, with his legs over the slide.

“Konohamaru, but martial arts aren’t everything. You need to work really hard to be the best ninja turtle at heart,” Uzumaki said, trying to put as much serious tone as possible and Konohamaru nodded his head firmly. “You also need a mask and a –“

But before Naruto was able to finish, the boy was sliding down and in the next second his feet were tapping on the ground. 

“Moegi! Udon! Let’s be ninja turtles!” Naruto could hear Konohamaru’s voice resonating through playing field. Two excited cheers were louder than other screams around the school ground. “So the playground is the city, and the tube is our base, and Mr. Naruto is Splinter, because he’s old!”

“Oi, NO!”

_______________________________________________________________________________

Sasuke stood next to Naruto, his arms crossed, eyes scanning the mess in front of him.

“Is it some kind of scavenger hunt?” Uchiha asked, not moving from the clear spot next to the door.

“Oh, fuck off. My room has its charm!” Naruto protested and passed Sasuke, going further into his space.

“I bet “charm” is suffocating under all this crap.”

“Well not everyone has some fancy architecture knowledge to pimp their dorm room, I did what I could to make this place feel cosy!”

Uzumaki stuck his tongue at Uchiha and moved causally around the piles of manga stacked in the middle of the room.

Naruto admitted that there was a lot going on in that small space and not everyone could appreciate its beauty. The cluster of different things made the room more homelike, full of colours and lights and plants and it all was connected with different memories. It was his mess, it was _him._

“So, do you see anything that belongs to you?” Naruto asked and jumped onto his bed.

“I regret I haven’t brought a box.”

Sasuke bent and started collecting different things scatter around the room. He picked up a black phone charger and a screwdriver. He turned to the side and snatched a mirror, few books and Naruto followed his moves with attentive gaze.

“There is no way I took so many things… Why didn’t you come back for them?”

Naruto looked at all the items Uchiha was clutching in his hands and actually a box would be very useful. He ducked under his bed and handed the container to his neighbour.

“I came back for the hairdryer and that was a lot of fun,” Sasuke answered with a smirk, eyes still scanning around the room.

Uzumaki laughed at that comment, but stopped abruptly when he saw lean fingers twisting around one of the blankets.

“No fucking way!” Naruto protested and moved to snatch the thing from Sasuke’s hands, but Uchiha was quicker. “That’s my favourite one…”

“Yeah, I liked it too, before it went missing 8 months ago after your big party.”

Uzumaki wasn’t pouting, because he was definitely too old for that, but something squeezed around his heart, when he thought about his favourite blanket being taken away. But he took it from Sasuke in the first place, so… That was fair.

With every small thing that Sasuke put in the box, the memories of borrowing them were coming back to Naruto. 

Like the little mirror he’d taken from Uchiha, because Sakura was getting ready for her date in his apartment and apparently the light in Naruto’s bathroom was shit and she needed to do her makeup in a day light, so he went to Sasuke and asked for a mirror. Or when he left his charger in one of the classrooms and he wasn’t going back to school till Monday and his phone was dying. Or when he lost his scissors and needed to prepare some animal masks for children and he pounded on Uchiha’s door at 10 pm. 

And to be honest, Naruto didn’t know why he was taking Uchiha’s things. He could swear he always gave back all the borrowed items from his friends, so it really didn’t make sense why he was hoarding that many of his neighbour’s things.

Also, Naruto couldn’t find the good reason why he was even going to Sasuke in the first place. He had a lot of friends who would gladly let him borrow their things, hell, he even had Sakura across the street, but every time he needed something, he knocked on Uchiha’s door. Of course, Sasuke was much closer than anyone else and it was convenient, but you are no supposed ask bastards for a favour. And you also shouldn’t be willing to lend your things to the people you despise…

So maybe Naruto has never hated Sasuke and maybe Uchiha has never hated him…

But then, Uzumaki couldn’t find any other explanation, for his blood boiling every time he saw Sasuke around the campus, why his skin started to heat up when Uchiha’s body collided with his, why something was always pushing him towards his neighbour. 

Uzumaki looked at Uchiha’s back and something shifted inside him. The feeling was familiar, he knew that Sasuke was the only person, who made him feel that way, but he couldn’t name it. His eyes moved past his neighbour’s face, to his arms reaching towards one of the shirts and Uzumaki stopped breathing. 

“I didn’t lend you this” Sasuke said, with black t-shirt in his hands, one brows arching. “How did you get that?”

Naruto felt a blush creeping on his cheeks as he stood up from his bed and examined the shirt. It had a little Uchiha fan on the sleeve and he knew that there was no way he could convinced Sasuke it belonged to him.

“I must have found it in drying room” he admitted, eyes scanning the dark material.

“Did you wear it?”

Naruto looked into Uchiha’s black, intense eyes, his blush now reaching his ears and he wanted to die on the spot.

“NO!” he yelled defensively and he regretted it, the moment Sasuke’s gaze became more powerful and the corners of his lips were lifting. “Why would I wear it?!”

Uchiha looked like he wanted to answer that, but Naruto’s eyes were too restless and his cheeks were still flaming and he was glad that his neighbour remained silent. But Uchiha moved closer to him, smirk playing on his lips and he couldn’t look away. There was something about Sasuke, that was driving him closer, his eyes sliding over his neighbour’s lashes to the curve of his lips, to his straight nose and back to those haunting, black eyes. His chest was hurting, but there was unexplainable excitement underneath it.

Sasuke moved past him with a little smirk on his lips, the box prompted on his hip as he walked into the kitchen.

“So tell me, Uzumaki” Uchiha said, opening one of his cupboards.” Where is my toaster?”

After Sasuke left with an armful of things, Naruto noticed the black shirt left on the chair and if he wore it to bed as his pyjama, Uchiha didn’t need to know that.

______________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was sitting on the floor crossed –legged, filling in his report card from yesterday. Tomorrow he would spend few hours with the youngest group , so the nursery rhymes were playing on a loop to refresh his memory.

He heard Uchiha’s door slamming and he looked at the clock. It was 9 pm and Sasuke was back from his run. He smiled to himself as he moved all of his work to the table and brought his laptop closer to himself. He answered some messages from his friends and was scrolling through his feed, when he heard quiet humming of the song through the wall. Well, it was a nice song, but it was nothing compare to Naruto’s music.

He snickered to himself and turned the volume all the way up on his speakers. The “Donguri korokoro” was blasting for a few minutes before Naruto heard the pounding on the wall. He only smiled and started singing loud along with the song. He stopped his shouting the moment “Highway to hell” reached his ears. Naruto laughed out loud, warmness spreading from his heart to his whole body and he thought that maybe it wasn’t so bad living next to Uchiha.

_______________________________________________________________________________

“So how’s everyone doing?” Sakura asked and took a sip of her coffee.

It was the second Wednesday of the mouth and it meant Naruto was meeting his friends for a lunch.

“Someone brought their “pet boar” into the building and we all thought we would die,” Kiba answered and sunk his teeth into the sandwich. “ How about your day?”

Naruto was laughing at that comment and Ino barely managed to put down her tea on the table before spilling. Shikamaru motioned for Kiba to go on with the story.

“It was a lot of animals freaking out, it went loose and we all were trying to catch it, but it was a beast not a boar and it almost broke my arm,” Kiba managed to answered before going back to his food. “Just another day at vet clinic.”

Now they were all laughing, except Sakura who was humming thoughtfully.

“I can understand that,” she added with a small sigh. Fortunately, Ino was right next to her, hand squeezing Sakura’s tight in encouragement.

“Speaking of a freak show, how’s your work?” Shikamaru asked, turning his head towards Naruto.

“Hey, my children are cool!” Naruto protested, his eyes lit up a second later. “Listen to that. Normally, we would be preparing some winter performance, but I’m so fed up with Frosty the Snowman, so we are doing a ninja play! Iruka was complaining that ninjas aren’t Christmas friendly, but I wrote a new script and kids are loving it!” 

“Oh, I would love to see that mess,” Ino whispered to Sakura, but Haruno playfully pushed her on the arm.

“It brings back all the memories when you made me cut out like hundred snowflakes” Kiba winced and drowned his unpleasant recollections in the cup of coffee.

“Oh now, we need to do hundred shurikens.”

Naruto flashed Kiba huge smile and poked Inuzuka between his ribs.

“Don’t you even think about it!” his friends swatted his hands away. “ It’s enough that Hinata drew me into some kind of library’s shenanigans.”

“And how’s Hinata?”

“She’s doing great. She’s sorry she couldn’t make it, but you know, work.”

They all hummed in understanding. Kiba moved his gaze around the table and took a big breath.

“Actually,” he started. “I’m going to propose next weekend.”

Naruto believed that Ino’s squeak could be heard from the other side of the street. Her hands quickly find their ways to Sakura’s and they both were gleaming.

“Really?” Haruno asked with big grin, her eyes sparkling.

Kiba only nodded his head, big smile splitting his face.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru added, but he had that warm smile on his face and Kiba half-heartily pushed him on the arm.

“You’re the one to talk. You popped out the question first.”

Shikamaru smirked around the brim of his cup and shrugged.

“I don’t regret it.”

Naruto clapped Kiba on the back and gave him his best smile.

“Man… that’s like a huge step,” Uzumaki exclaimed and bumped his arm with Inuzuka’s.

“Yeah, but it’s a big step with Hinata… So it’s all good.” 

Naruto saw Inuzuka’s eyes getting warmer and he was sending them the biggest, honest smile. Kiba’s attention was snatched by Ino, who desperately needed to know everything about the ring and ideas for engagement. Shikamaru added some tips from his own experience and Kiba was listening to every advice with intent face.

The image of his friends, excited and helpful, made his heart grew bigger. 

Kiba was telling them about his meeting with Hinata’s father and Shikamaru mumbled that it couldn’t be as scary as talking with Gaara about Temari moving to Konoha. Sakura and Ino were chatting about their house haunting, and when Naruto was listening to his friends, he felt something heavy pushing on his heart. He was extremely happy for them, but he also felt like if someone touch him right now, he would crumble into million pieces.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was panting heavily, smirk on his lips.

“That’s all you’ve got, Uchiha?” he rasped cockily despite his condition. His hands were pushing on the ground and he stood out without breaking eye-contact.

Sasuke was towering over him, one hand on his hip, barely breaking a sweat.

“Surrender, Uzumaki.”

Uchiha’s deep voice was bouncing off the empty walls of dojo and Naruto felt his body responding to Sasuke’s croak.

“What are you, some kind of final boss?”

“Come closer, little hero.”

Black eyes were sparkling with mischief and long fingers motioned for him to move and the pulling on his gut was back. Naruto thought that by now, he should have gotten used to that weird sensation he felt around Uchiha, but still he didn’t understand how Sasuke could steal his breath away so easily.

Few minutes later his arms were bent behind his back, preventing him from moving and his shoulder blades hit Uchiha’s chest.

“Game over,” a soft whisper reached his ears and Naruto felt fire underneath his skin.

Uchiha’s voice in his ear, his breath on his neck, strong grip on his wrists, it was too much to handle and he wanted to break free.

“Jerk.” Naruto mumbled under his nose, when his opponent let him go, but from the way Sasuke’s lips moved, he definitely heard that.

He was massaging his wrists, when his phone started buzzing. Uzumaki fished it out from the backpack, one quick glance at the caller id and he couldn’t stop a small wince escaping from his mouth. He collapsed on the ground and let it ring.

“Girlfriend?” Uchiha asked, his voice getting closer to his sparring partner.

“Don’t have one,” Naruto answered and covered his eyes with his arms. “It’s my mom. I’m too tired to talk to her.”

Cold bottle was pocking him in his leg and Naruto propped himself on his elbows to snatch Uchiha’s water with a smile.

“Iruka made me listen to some girls talking about k-pop bands for 3 hours and I don’t think I can handle more people today.”

His words were met with silence and it felt odd without Uchiha’s usual sarcastic comment. But Sasuke’s eyes were tracing the exposed skin over his hipbone slowly moving up, towards his face. For a moment, their eyes met and Naruto felt overpowered with new feeling, but Sasuke quickly turned away from Uzumaki’s gaze.

“I think we call it a day.”

“What?!” Naruto yelled, his eyes wide.”It’s been like 20 minutes.”

“But you don’t want any human interactions.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t mind you.”

Uchiha’s eye were stuck on the ground, a small sight escaped his mouth and sat down on the bench in front of his sparring partner.

“I have an assignment to do,” he started and before Naruto could add something, Sasuke motioned towards his sprawled body on the ground. “And you’re tired and covered in bruises.” 

Uzumaki quickly pushed the hem of his t-shirt over his bruises and wanted to reassure Sasuke that there weren’t any serious injuries, but his neighbour was already moving towards the door. He threw his bag over his shoulder and was about to exit, but Naruto’s words made him stop. 

“Sasuke. I don’t want to go back to my room just yet.”

Uzumaki wasn’t looking at him, his blue eyes were stuck on the floor, small grimace on his face and Sasuke couldn’t make himself to walk away. His eyes narrowed slightly and a small smirk was tugging at the corners of his lips.

“The charm is gone?” Uchiha asked, one brow arched.

“It’s still there…” Uzumaki answered with a small smile. “ But you took some things and feng shui is all messed up.”

Naruto didn’t budge from his place on the ground and for a moment he thought that Sasuke would just leave him there. He felt two fingers flicking him on the back of his head and when he tilted his head back, Uchiha was smiling at him.

“Then shower and come to my room, usuratonkachi.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Uzumaki was in the middle of playing _Prop Hunt_ with Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru, when he got a message.

_Have you stolen my magnet?_

Naruto raised his gaze at his fridge, where the red magnet was hanging right next to the postcard from Suna and smiled to himself.

_No who would stole magnet_

Uzumaki was chilling in his safe spot, disguised as one of the barrels and his friends were bickering and following Kiba in the bucket form who apparently was trying to sweet talk his way out of it. His phone flashed and he read the message.

 _Apparently you, you klepto_.

Naruto’s finger were hovering over the message, smirk playing on his lips.

“Naruto!”

His head cocked quickly and his gaze caught the glimpse of Shikamaru’s character aiming at him. Before he could react, his barrel blew up and hunters won.

“What the fuck, man?” Kiba yelled over Choji’s victory shout. “Why weren’t you running?”

“Me?! I had a perfect cover and you were moving in front of Shikamaru! Why do you suck at this game?!”

“Okay, that’s it! I want to change teams!”

“State your reason. “

“Because Naruto sucks.”

“Hey!”

Naruto heard Kiba’s complaining about their current map and his eyes wandered to the time on the computer screen. It was quite early and he could play few more games with his friends, but his phone was buzzing again and he found himself shifting his attention from his computer screen to the phone.

“Guys, I think I’m gonna back out.”

“So soon?” Choji asked.

“Um, yeah, I have things to do,” Naruto mumbled, stretching his arms behind his head.

“Things,” Shikamaru carefully repeated.

“Yeah, like important things.”

Naruto heard Nara’s hum, but other than that, his friend didn’t push the subject.

“It was nice playing with you guys. Except you Kiba. Learn how to hide.”

Inuzuka’s yell was the last thing he heard, before closing all his programmes. Naruto moved from the floor, his laptops and headphones deserted on his unmade bed. He fished out one of the mugs from the sink and quickly washed it, spilling water all over his counter.

One minute later, he was knocking on Sasuke’s door, wide smile on his lips.

“Hi,” Naruto greeted the moment Uchiha pushed his door opened.

His neighbour rather than answering, moved his gaze from Uzumaki’s blinding smile to the weird mug in his hands.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Oh that,” Uzumaki said, still smiling, his hands shaking a green cup. “That’s my offering.”

“Offering?” Uchiha repeated and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Listen, your magnet is really cool. It’s little bit freaky with all that spinning tomoe, but I like it. Did you know it changes patterns , if you look at it from different angles?”

“Uzumaki, what’s your point?”

“I don’t want to give it back to you, BUT, I’m giving you this in return.”

Naruto pushed the mug into Sasuke’s hands, pride bubbling inside him. 

“I don’t want your frog mug. That magnet was special.”

“Well and this is a special mug! It’s my favourite and… and you see the cheeks and mouth, if you pour hot water into it, the cheeks become red and his tongue is out. Let me show you.”

Uzumaki marched into Sasuke’s room, his socks sliding on the floor and with a big smile he started raking Uchiha’s cupboard looking for tea. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

“…And they were samurai!”

They were taking a break for their sparring session and Naruto found himself sprawled on the floor, telling Sasuke about his ninja play. He felt Uchiha’s gaze on him, moving from his eyes to his very animated hands and somehow with every word he was itching closer to Sasuke.

“I know, it’s brilliant,” Naruto mused and took a sip from his water bottle.

“That’s one way to call it,” Sasuke whispered loud enough for Naruto to hear.

Uzumaki playfully pushed him and his neighbour didn’t resist and collapsed next to him on the ground.

“Oh yeah? Then how would you call it, ha?”

“Challenging… for someone with your artistic abilities.”

“You are such a dick, Uchiha,” Naruto answered but couldn’t fight a smile creeping on his lips.

“Am I?”

Uzumaki was watching like Sasuke’s lips were curving in a smirk, his chin was raised in that arrogant manner and yes, Uchiha was a dick, but also his eyes were playful and deep, and he was much more than that.

“Let’s make a bet,” Uchiha started, moving his face so slightly in Naruto’s direction. “If you win the next sparring, I’ll help you with your decorations for that ninja play.”

Uzumaki furrowed his brows, his eyes watching Uchiha suspiciously.

“Are you even good with drawings?” Naruto asked, not really convinced.

“I’m quite okay.”

Naruto pondered for awhile, because he would call himself “quite okay” and honestly he didn’t know if that would be enough. But on the other hand, he would always have extra pair of hands to help with all the props.

“And what if you win?” Uzumaki asked, itching closer to Sasuke.

His neighbour’s smirk grew wider, as he was only waiting for that question.

“You will clean up your room.”

Naruto wanted to protest that his room was clean, but Uchiha’s eyes narrowed and he knew what Sasuke meant by that.

Uzumaki let all those information sink in, those challenging black eyes taunting him and driving him in, and his hand shoot in Sasuke’s direction.

“I hope you’re ready for Ninja Winter Wonderland.”

A pale hand clasped his own and Naruto felt electricity running through his body.

“I hope you’re ready to see your carpet again.”

________________________________________________________________________________

It was Saturday and Naruto was standing in front of the vegetables stand, frown on his face .

“Usuratonkachi. What’s taking you so long?”

Uzumaki whipped his head in the direction of the voice. Sasuke was next to him, leaning on their shopping cart.

“Those cucumbers look weird,” Naruto answered and pushed his hands full of vegetables in Uchiha’s direction.

“Because it’s a fucking courgette, you moron.”

“How was I suppose to know?! They look the same!” Naruto protested and trotted behind Sasuke, to the next alley.

Uchiha grabbed one cucumber, few tomatoes and threw it into the cart.

“Do you want avocado for this?”

Naruto nodded his head and smiled when Sasuke moved further to pick some avocados for him.

When Uzumaki banged on Uchiha’s door that morning, he hasn’t thought that things would end up with them grocery shopping for joined Saturday dinner. It all started with his ramen supply was getting thin, so he needed to stack up for the next week. He knew that Uchiha’d stayed in his dorms that weekend, because the vending machine was occupied since yesterday. Apparently you supposed to wash your clothes according to colours. Naruto thought that was bullshit and Uchiha was trying to mess with him, but every time he went to the laundry room, there was a new pile of Uchiha’s clothes spinning inside. So when he’d demanded that Sasuke drove him to the shop, Uchiha just tossed a shopping bag at him, locked up his room and instructed Naruto to hurry up. And somehow on their way to the market, Naruto’d invited himself to Uchiha’s dinner. 

Uzumaki saw that Sasuke fished out his shopping list from the pocket and was scanning through it.

“We also need rice and pickled daikon,” Uchiha said and moved to the next aisle. “Can you handle the rice?”

“Of course! I know how rice looks like!”

Uchiha’s eyes narrowed at him and Naruto couldn’t stop himself from doing the same. The tension was raising and Naruto’s hands were itching to connect with Sasuke’s skin, but his neighbour broke the eye contact first, before they would start pushing each other in the middle of the mall.

“Good luck with that,” Uchiha prompted and with a little smirk pushed their cart into one of the aisle.

That fucking bastard. Naruto will bring him the best rice that was in that shop and it would wipe out that intoxicating smirk from his lips.

Uzumaki was rushing through the aisles, almost not getting distracted by others items. Well, maybe he didn’t need that huge bag of strawberry gummies and he picked that soda just because it was orange and on sale, but he would definitely get to the rice.

As soon as he grabbed some ramen. 

Naruto was contemplating if he needed more soba noodles or more udon cups, when someone called his name. 

His head turned towards the voice and he saw Temari smiling at him and Shikamaru trotting right behind her.

“Somehow I’m not surprised to see you here,” she added, her eyes moving over the pile of cups in his arms.

“I know what’s good,” Uzumaki answered and flashed them his big smile. “How’re you guys doing?”

“Good!” Temari answered at the same time that Shikamaru winced.

Naruto saw that pointed gaze Temari shoot her fiancé but Shikamaru tugged her closer to him.

“ I would like to relax on my free day rather than squeezing my way through all those people… But Gaara and Kankuro are coming tomorrow, so we need to prepare something for dinner.” 

“Oh, I’m also dinner shopping!”Naruto exclaimed with a big smile. “We’re doing sushi!”

“With that?” Temari asked, eyeing his debatable shopping choices.

Uzumaki dropped his gaze on the items in his arms and he was almost sure he was forgetting something rather important.

“Oh, right! I need to buy rice!”

Temari opened her mouth to say something, but Shikamaru dibbed his thumb above her hip and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Well, we’re not stopping you. I bet we’ll be stuck in this hell for a while, so at least save yourself.”

Uzumaki’s laugh was loud and ringing, he waved them goodbye trying not to lose any precious cups in his hands as he disappeared in rice aisle, looking for a black, spiky hair.

________________________________________________________________________________

It was Tuesday and Naruto was hiding behind a desk.

“Do I want to know?”

He lifted his head and was met with Iruka’s suspicious gaze, one hand on his hip.

“Shh, don’t talk to me, they would know where I am,” Uzumaki hissed back and ducked his head behind the desktop.

Iruka looked at the scene in front on him. Children were running around the classroom, going through every shelf, peeking behind the photos, under the plants, ripping bags, someone even dared to open the window and look under windowsill. It was a mess.

“Naruto,” Iruka started patiently, before collapsed on his chair. “You know we don’t do stuff that way.”

“But it’s a kinaesthetic activity! They need to find the pieces of sentences that are hidden around the classroom, put them back together and then create as much questions as possible based on that sentence. They are learning, Iruka!”

When they heard a loud cheer form one of the groups, which had found a piece of the sentence stuck to teddy bear’s butt, Iruka faced relaxed.

“Then why are you hiding behind the desk?” he asked, taking a sip from his coffee.

“Because I have the last pieces of the sentences,” Naruto answered, wiggling his eyebrows and flashed few pieces of paper in front of Umino’s face .

Naruto’s methods definitely weren’t conventional and sometimes it took him a lot of time to convince Iruka to his ideas, but Umino needed to admit, that all those crazy activities were paying off. Still, he couldn’t help himself and shook his head at the other teacher, his warm smile hid behind the mug.

“Mister, can you help us with this?”

Both teachers’ heads snapped in the direction of the door.

Sasuke stood in the entryway, his eyes on the group of girls who had already gathered around him. As Naruto quickly stood up from his spot on the ground, his eyes weren’t leaving Uchiha’s body.

Sasuke was wearing a black longsleeve, tugged into his jeans, with brown belt and boots. It was simple and Naruto was sure that he saw other guys wearing that kind of outfit million times, but somehow, he couldn’t stop the hammering of his heart and the thought that Uchiha looked really good.

“I’m sorry, ladies,” Naruto pushed through the group and threw his arm around Sasuke’s shoulder. “But this fine gentleman came here to me.”

The group was scowling and firing thousand questions towards them, but Uzumaki quickly shushed them down.

“Come on, keep looking for clues, there’s nothing to see here,” he said and motioned for them to move away.

“He’s too pretty for Mr. Naruto,” one girl whispered to her friends, before they scattered around the classroom.

“I’ve heard that, Hanabi!”

Next to him, Sasuke let out a small laugh and Naruto’s arm dropped from his shoulder.

“What’s so funny, pretty boy?” Uzumaki taunted, his face getting closer to Sasuke. 

Uchiha’s eye widened for a split second, just to narrowed back at him.

“I prefer handsome but I take that compliment.”

Uzumaki was about to say that it wasn’t meant that way, but Iruka coughed quite pointedly in the background.

“Oh, yeah,” Naruto spun around, now facing Umino, who was casually looking at the children in front of him.

“Iruka! This is Sasuke! He volunteered to help us with play decorations but he’s a bit of a stickler and he wanted to measure the stage. Can I take him there now?”

Iruka moved his eyes between the boys. He saw how Sasuke’s fingers dibbed in Naruto’s side at the dub, how Naruto’s eye were shining when he laughed and he felt something warm spreading in his chest.

Umino simply nodded his head.

“Oh, before I go,” Naruto skipped to Iruka and pushed some papers in his hands. “Everybody! Mr. Iruka has the last pieces of the sentences!”

Before Umino could react, Naruto was already out the door, tugging Sasuke’s sleeve behind him. Gobs of children swallowed Iruka whole and Uzumaki’s laugh was the last thing he heard.

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Okay, so Ino said that it would be fine if we reschedule the holiday dinner from Wednesday to Friday, but I don’t know, I didn’t talk with anyone about this, and she’d already taken a shift on Wednesday and I’m a little bit pissed at her .”

Naruto was looking at Sakura, who was at the same time whispering to him about the recent situation with Ino and tapping on her laptop. He prompted his head on his hand and scribbled something in the notebook.

“I mean, Friday is fine with me,” he answered, turning the page in the book.

They were in library working on their thesis. To be honest, Sakura wasn’t really keen on taking him with her to the library, she needed to finish her chapter by the end of the month and Naruto was really good at distracting. But it wasn’t an ideal situation for Naruto as well. Normally, he would be sparing with Sasuke, but today Uchiha had some kind of big exam after his classes and Naruto couldn’t stand sitting alone in his room. So he knocked on Sakura’s door and nagged her to let him go to the library with her.

Haruno lifted her gaze from her laptop and sent him a quick glance.

“Aren’t you supposed to have your family gathering that weekend before holidays?”

“Usually yeah, but this year the winter gathering is next week.”

Sakura hummed and went back to her work.

“So you are on board... But still I don’t know, it just gets on my nerves that she decided for us. I’m not talking to her, she is not talking to me and it’s getting on my nerves.”

“Maybe you guys should spar.”

Haruno looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Spar?” she repeated sceptically.

“Yeah, you trained martial arts with me, so you know how to spar.”

“Um, yeah, but since when fighting solves problems?”

Naruto only shrugged, his eyes now stuck on the book in front of them, because in some cases fighting actually helped. He could feel Haruno’s eyes on him before she went back to her work.

______________________________________________________________________________

After really boring two hours, they were going back to their dorms. They were talking about Kiba’s proposal, and Haruno stopped to show Naruto photos that Hinata’s sent her. Waiting for his friend to scroll to the photos, Uzumaki looked around the campus and then his eyes caught the glimpse of black hair. As sensing Naruto’s eyes on him, Uchiha turned his head and their eyes met. Naruto felt his heart picking up the speed and when Sasuke’s lips stretched into a smirk, he smiled back.

“Oi, Naruto,” Haruno said, bringing his attention to her. “Who are you smiling at?”

Sakura whipped her head around and scanned the area. But Sasuke’s back was disappearing behind the main door of their dorms and he couldn’t say if Sakura noticed him or not. When she looked at him, her eyes were focused, brows furrowed and he could see he gears turning in her head. 

Naruto couldn’t stop his laughter after seeing Sakura’s intense face.

“Just a friend.” 

_______________________________________________________________________________

It was few days before family gathering and Naruto was sprawled on Sasuke’s bed. He reclaimed his favourite blanket, which now smelt like Uchiha, and was grading some listening comprehension tests. 

Sasuke sat at his desk, his geometric tools laid out on his left, his gaze fixed on some weird, architecture sheet of paper. To Naruto, it looked complicated and very impressive, all those lines and numbers, somehow would made it into the real world and someone would call it their home. And that was really cool.

After all of his hard work, he thought he deserved one of Uchiha’s fancy flavoured teas, so he pushed all the papers aside and moved to the kitchen. Passing Sasuke’s desk, he peeked over his neighbour's shoulder and even though he didn’t understand a single thing from the blueprint, he hummed and nodded to himself with appreciation. With Sasuke’s mugs in his hand, he slid towards the kitchen and fished out his favourite frog mug from the cupboard. The kettle was on the stove and Naruto hopped on the counter, waiting for the water to boil.

His eyes automatically moved towards Sasuke and when he looked at working Uchiha, he felt at peace. The familiar sensation, was still there, slowly simmering in his underbelly and even if his hands were still itching to reach towards Sasuke, he didn’t want to punch him. Naruto couldn’t believe how comfortable he felt around Uchiha now when a month ago they were at each other’s throats. At one point, Sasuke became a huge part of his day and even when he was outside, having fun with his friends and colleagues, he actually missed Sasuke’s presence right beside him. He still enjoyed his time with his friends, but somehow, Uchiha made everything more interesting, more exciting. He felt goosebumps on his skin when Sasuke looked at him, and his heart would picked up a speed, when they touched, and the way that Uchiha was saying his name was driving him crazy...

It was amazing, how easily Naruto walked into Sasuke’s life and honestly, he couldn’t imagine leaving it. They would spar in the gym, pushed bruises into each other skin and after that, rather than went their separate ways, Naruto would march into Sasuke’s room and he would stay there as long as his eyes stayed open.

Sasuke was still pushing his buttons, still made his blood boiled, his voice even more taunting, his eyes even more challenging but Naruto didn’t feel anything negative towards him.

Because damn, Naruto really liked Sasuke.

He liked his sense of humour, his straightforward approach towards things, his cooking, his teasing, his perfectionistic tendencies, his strange collection of ceramic hawks, his cold hands...

“I can feel you are thinking really hard, Uzumaki.”

Uchiha didn’t look up, his eyes still on the blueprints, his hands busy with measuring something. Naruto knew he was burning his eyes into Sasuke’s profile, but he wanted to ask him now, more than ever.

“Sasuke.”

Uchiha moved his eyes from his work and looked at Naruto’s focused face.

“Are you busy that weekend?”

Naruto saw as Uchiha pondered for a while on that question, his black eyes fixated on him.

“I have work on Friday, but I’m free on Saturday and Sunday,” he answered.

Uzumaki took a big breath and was about to continue, but the whistle of the kettle stopped him.

He hopped down from the counter, moved to the stove and turned it off. Naruto felt Uchiha’s gaze on his back, when he was preparing their teas.

“I have a family gathering that starts on Friday.”

His hands were working around the tea infuser, then he moved to the sugar, silence stretching between them.

“Okay?” Uchiha spoke and Naruto lost the count of the teaspoons of sugar he added.

With hammering heart he spun around with two mugs and moved towards Sasuke. He placed Uchiha’s tea not so gently on the coaster and took a big breath, meeting black eyes.

“And you are invited.”

Sasuke blinked at him twice, then his eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

 _That’s a really good question_ , Naruto thought, before slightly averting his gaze. But at this point, it was all or nothing and Naruto might have as well confessed.

“My mom thinks we are together.”

Uchiha’s eyes widened just a little bit, but they quickly went back to normal.

“Well, that’s interesting,” he said with a smirk.

At that was something. Sasuke didn’t look like he was mad at him, so maybe there was a chance of winning. Uzumaki was trying to play it cool and he only shrugged at that and moved to sat down on Uchiha’s bed, with hands placed around the mug. And when he thought that Sasuke was done with questions, Uchiha spoke again.

“Did you tell your mother that we are dating?”

“No,” Naruto said and winced at the memory. “I told her million times that you are not my boyfriend, but she saw you during the “hairdryer incident” and she put something into her head and she is so stubborn and she wouldn’t listen to me.”

Sasuke hummed, his smirk getting wider and Naruto could tell he was enjoying it.

“I can see the resemblance.”

“You’re such a bastard, Sasuke,” Uzumaki wanted to kick Uchiha’s chair, but Sasuke moved out of his reach. “Just… do you want to go or not?!”

“Do you want me to go?”

Naruto looked at Sasuke who was still smirking at him, his eyes playful.

“I mean, why not… my family is a little bit weird and crazy, but if you can put up with me, then you wouldn’t be surprised by their behaviour.”

“And I will go there as your…?”

That part Naruto haven’t thought through... He was so focused on asking Sasuke to come with him, that he haven’t thought about as who Uchiha would go there. His mom probably blurted out to his family that Uzumaki would bring his boyfriend so even if he shown up with Sasuke and explained that they were just friends, it wouldn’t work out.

“I don’t know… As my fake boyfriend?”

Uzumaki saw Uchiha’s eyes sharpening and immediately he felt really small under his gaze, but he didn’t look down.

Sasuke spun around in his chair, his hands reaching for a pencil and it looked like it was the end of their conversation. 

So that was it.

Naruto’s eyes dropped down at his tea and he felt something squeezing his chest. With pain radiating from his heart, he moved to stand up from Uchiha’s bed, but Sasuke spoke again. 

“Naruto,” Uchiha’s voice was softer than before. “I’ll think about it.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was entering the campus ground, when his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Naruto,” the pleasant voice of his father brought a small smile on his face.

“Dad! What’s up?”

“Good, good. Everything is fine, I just thought we didn’t talk in awhile.”

“We talked like two days ago,” Naruto laughed and made his way across the campus.

“Well, yes, but your mom did most of the talking back then,” Minato stated and Uzumaki heard a shuffle of papers.

“Are you still at work?”

“Actually, I just wrapped up the project , so I could help your mom with all the arrangements around the gathering.”

Oh yeah, the gathering...

“About that meeting…” his dad started and Naruto let out a sigh.”I was thinking about this whole situation.”

Oh no, if his mom was able to bring his dad on her side, then he was fucked. He didn’t need double amount of phone calls about that family gathering and Naruto’s so very fake relationship with Sasuke.

Naruto wanted to cut in, but his father continued. 

“It’s little unfair to demand from you to come to such a meeting with your boyfriend. I understand that you might not feel comfortable with that. It’s not our call to decide when you will introduce Sasuke to us.”

Well, that’s a surprise. Uzumaki switched his phone to the other hand and pushed the door to his dorm building.

“You know your mom didn’t want to do you any charm. She just got really excited that you finally met someone special and she thought it would be a good idea to let Sasuke know he is welcomed in the family.”

Naruto didn’t say anything. He was climbing the stairs, his eyes stuck at his shoes and he felt something squeezing around his throat.

“I just want you to know that we support you and it would a great pleasure to meet Sasuke, but we understand if you decide that it’s not the right time and place.”’

Uzumaki felt his heart growing twice its size and his eyes were definitely glossy when he approached his door. He knew his dad was waiting for some kind of respond, but the only thing that was stuck in his brain, was that after all what happened, he actually wanted Sasuke to come.

“Thank you, dad,” he finally rasped, his eyes looking at the small slit between his door and the ground. “I just… I really want Sasuke to come but he didn’t give me his answer yet, so…”

He heard his dad humming on the other side and he took the opportunity to ram his pockets, searching for keys.

“Your mom said that he is really handsome and has quite a temper. “

Naruto laughed at that and his hand finally gripped a bunch of keys.

“Yeah, mom saw him like half a minute so it’s funny how much she caught.”

He could almost hear his dad’s smile and his soft “right”.

“But yeah, he’s a handsome devil and he’s driving me crazy.”

Minato’s laugh was warm and honest and Naruto felt that warmness spreading through him.

“As long as Sasuke makes you happy, then it’s all good.”

Naruto froze with his hand on the door knob, his dad’s words hitting him hard. 

He hadn’t thought about it until now, but Uzumaki felt extremely happy, because of Sasuke.

He felt energize and ready to concur the world whenever he thought about Uchiha. He woke up every day with a thought that no matter how shitty his day will be, he could always knock on Sasuke’s door. And Sasuke would open with a smirk, and let him in, and my god, it made him so, so happy.

“Naruto?” his dad asked with a little concern in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just - I am really happy with Sasuke, dad.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear,” he could hear satisfaction in his dad’s voice. “ If you also make Sasuke that happy, I think we can expect you both on the weekend.”

And THAT was the real question.

__________________________________________________________________________________

It was Wednesday and Naruto was getting ready for work, walking in his joggers around the room and gathering his materials. When he heard a knock on his door, he couldn’t help but jogged towards them and opened them as quick as possible.

“Hello, bast- whoa! Where are going looking like that?” Uzumaki stated, his eyes sliding over his neighbour.

Sasuke was wearing well fitted blue navy suit with white crisp shirt, few buttons left undone, black heavy coat rested on the crook of his arm, a leather briefcase in one hand and a dark bag in the other. Uchiha looked like one of the models from the cover of the magazine and by the smirk he was sending Naruto, he was well aware of that.

“I have a meeting with a client.”

Naruto wrinkled his nose, because he wasn’t sure how he felt about Sasuke walking into public looking like that. Those poor bastards outside, they were not ready to have their day ruined by Sasuke’s beauty. 

“Is it part of your job to seduce your clients with all of that?” Naruto asked and motioned his hands all over Uchiha’s body.

“That’s called business casual dress code, you moron.”

Sasuke was quirking his brow at him, and Naruto swore to god, that with every day Uchiha’s eyes were getting more intense and his heart was going crazy over them.

“I think it’s actually illegal, it makes you too powerful.”

“You’re the one to talk. You always welcome your guests looking like that?”

Naruto’s gaze dropped to his own bare chest and he felt his cheeks getting warm. As Uzumaki was pondering on his underdressed state, Uchiha took the opportunity to pushed the dark bag into Naruto’s hand.

“This belongs to you.”

But before Naruto could see what was inside, Uchiha was moving towards the staircase.

Naruto saw the box he handed Sasuke awhile ago. For a moment, he thought that it was Uchiha’s way of rejecting his offer. Sasuke might have packed all of Uzumaki’s things that made it into his room at one point and handed them back.

The bag was getting heavy in his hands and he felt his heart painfully squeezing, but curiosity won over and he peeked inside.

Naruto’s face split into the biggest smile ever. That fucking bastard.

________________________________________________________________________________

It was later that day and Naruto was eating his late lunch during afterschool club time. He spotted Iruka approaching his table, some files stuck under his arm. When the teacher was closer to Naruto, his stopped suddenly, eyeing the other’s lunch.

“Bento?” Iruka asked with surprise expression on his face.

“Yes! Sasuke made it for me!” Uzumaki was beaming, his cheeks stuffed with rice.

Umino sent him a soft smile and sat next to Naruto, putting a pile of tests on the table.

“Did it come with the mask?” Iruka asked and pointed at the orange mask around Uzumaki’s eyes.

“Unfortunately no, I needed to do it myself, to fit with those guys.”

Uzumaki motioned towards Konohamaru and his friends running around with similar masks. Iruka looked like he wanted to ask, why they were caring empty containers on their backs, but he learnt, that the less questions he asked about Naruto’s ideas, the better he slept at night. They were working in silence, Umino busy with grading tests, Naruto enjoying his bento.

“Oh, Iruka! I need to ask you for something!” Uzumaki turned his shining eyes at the teacher and clasped his hands in front of him. “Could you cover my classes on Friday?”

“Do you need to be at university that day?”

“No, actually, I have a family gathering, it’s quite important.”

Iruka hummed and nodded his head.

“I guess, I can do it,” he said after a while of thinking.

“Thank you so much, Iruka!” Naruto was ready to throw his arms around the other man, but Iruka moved away from his reach with a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, yeah, now help me grade those tests.”

Naruto took half of the papers with a smile and pushed his box away.

“Oh, Michelangelo stopped eating, he can help as defeat that alligator!” Konohamaru shouted and three kids were next to Naruto in a second.

“Sorry, guys, but Michelangelo in on a mission right now, you need to handle that boss on your own.”

“What kind of mission is that?” Moegi asked and furrowed her brows at all the paper on the table.

“A boring one,” Naruto admitted and earned a jab in his ribs from Iruka. “But someone has to do it. Go! Be brave! Smack that alligator from me!”

Uzumaki saw his students running back to the corner and launching themselves on the top of small plush alligator. He flashed them a thumbs up and a big smile, before going back to work.

“So, is Sasuke going with you?” Iruka asked, without looking away from the test.

Naruto sighed and scribbled a grade at the top of the page.

“I don’t know, “ he mumbled. “I’m still waiting for his answer. He’s been busy with work lately. Today he was going to the meeting with an important client, looking like a damn superstar and of course he would win that client over, with his perfect plans and perfect… everything! And he wouldn’t have time for me… I don’t even know if he want to go to Uzushio in the first place… I just - I just don’t know…”

Uzumaki nibbled at some bean sprouts, work momentarily forgotten. He saw Iruka’s mug pushed towards him and he moved his gaze towards the teacher.

“Would you mind going to the faculty room for more coffee?” Umino asked, without taking his eyes from the test.

Naruto nodded his head and pushed his chair to stand up. He moved to walked past Umino, the green mug in his hand.

“Don’t forget your phone, Naruto.”

Uzumaki turned his head towards Iruka, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Umino sent him a small smile and Naruto snatched his phone from the backpack, hushed “thank you” on his lips.

He sneaked out of the room and made his way towards the second floor. Before he went into the room, he sent Sasuke a message with hammering heart.

_Keep spoiling me with your awesome cooking and you never get rid of me_

On his way back to kids and Iruka, his phone vibrated. Naruto put the coffee on the ground and snatched the phone from his pocket.

_That’s the plan._

Naruto couldn’t stop his smile and that awful blush was back on his cheeks. He’s fingers were hovering over the screen and he wanted to ask Sasuke about the meeting but he got another message.

_Besides, I’m trying to get into the role of fake boyfriend._

Naruto felt a painful pang hitting his heart and he frowned. He should be happy, because if he understood correctly Sasuke was going with him to that family meeting and he was on board with fake boyfriend scenario, but it was a bitter sweet victory. Somehow, those words hurt like hell and he didn’t understand why, because that was exactly what he wanted… right?

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Okay, so it’s happening in like 3 different places, right? So we need 3 different backgrounds for that. The first one is a ninja village, the second a forest and the last one is a training ground.”

They were sitting in Sasuke’s room, sheets of paper between them, big cardboards rested on the wall, all needed materials scattered around them.

“Can’t those training grounds be in the forest?” Sasuke asked, scanning through Naruto’s script.

“I mean, they can… I guess.”

“And what exactly is that?” Uchiha pointed at Naruto’s sketch in front of him.

“That’s my vision!” Naruto shook the page with his doodles in front of his friend’s face, before Sasuke snatched it. One look at the sheet and his lips were stretching into a big smirk and that bastard was laughing at Naruto’s art!

“Don’t laugh at me! I tried really hard!” Uzumaki protested and whipped his picture back.

“I can see that, usuratonkachi and I try my best to capture its… charm.”

Naruto saw Sasuke reaching for a clean sheet of paper and started sketching. Since Uchiha said he could handle the decorations, Uzumaki took upon himself to start making some props.

After few minutes, Naruto had some kind of weird headband around his head and was laughing at one of Sasuke’s stories from work. He felt something warm spreading in his chest when he saw Sasuke’s smile, his hair was swept behind his ear, some indie band playing in the background, stationary supplies around them, and oh god, Naruto could get used to that. It felt so domestic and dreamlike, and Naruto wanted to capture that moment and kept it close to him for forever.

“Do you want to see?” Sasuke asked, sensing Naruto’s intense gaze on him.

Uzumaki nodded his head and moved forward to see Uchiha’s sketches. They definitely couldn’t be better than his and holy fuck!

“The first one is the village. There are few buildings with a typical hidden roofs and I guessed from your “vision” that you want a temple in the background. Next one is the forest. Because it’s winter time, I went with some pine trees to make the background more colourful and for training grounds…”

Naruto heard Sasuke going into details about the best colours for all that, but my god, Naruto was still gaping at the sketches. He knew that Sasuke was good with that strict architecture plans, but those were some cute drawings, like something from Kung Fu Panda. Uzumaki’s heart was pounding like crazy, because holy fuck, he was simple amazed by Sasuke’s talent.

“What do you think?” Uchiha brought his gaze from the sketches to Uzumaki. To be honest, Naruto didn’t pay attention to his words, too absorbed with the drawings, but he trusted Sasuke with his choices.

“I mean… It’s not as good as MY vision, but it will do.”

He sent Sasuke cheeky grin and looked once again at the drawings. They were definitely going on his fridge, right next to the magnet.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was throwing shurikens at Sasuke, who was surprisingly really good at dodging, even if his hands were occupied with all those brushes and paints. Uzumaki’s whole face was covered in paint, because he’s been singing “Shuriken Ninja” for an hour and Sasuke was trying to make him stop.

He was pushing Sasuke’s blue hands away from his face with a laughter when his phone rang. Uchiha let him go but before Naruto picked up a phone, he whispered that it was not over yet.

“Yep?” Naruto answered still laughing.

“Man, where are you? I’m banging on your doors and you’re not answering.”

“Oh shit, Kiba, I forgot, I’m going.”

Naruto sprinted from Sasuke’s room and stumbled into the hall.

“Kiba!”

Inuzuka turned his head to the left and saw Naruto approaching him with a big smile.

“Oh shit, was I knocking on the wrong door?”

“No, that’s still my room” Naruto laughed and patted his pocket, but they were empty.

“Fuck, I must have dropped my keys. Just wait here .”

Uzumaki was back in Uchiha’s room, his eyes on the ground.

“Sasuke, I think I lost-“ Naruto stopped and saw Sasuke’s stretched hand with his keys in it.

“Oi, if you wanted me to stay, you should have asked. No need to steal my keys.”

“Moron.”

Naruto couldn’t stop laughing even when Sasuke’s brush reached his arm.

“I’ll be back!” he shouted to Uchiha, before turning towards the door.

Naruto ran back to the hall, passing very confused Inuzuka, who was trying to peek inside Sasuke’s room.

“What the fuck is going on?” he mumbled and walked closer to his friend.

“I’m making decorations for a play” Uzumaki casually stated and pushed his door open.

They came inside and Naruto started digging through boxes on the ground. He’d planned to prepare those materials for Hinata earlier, but he was so engrossed with spending time with Sasuke, that he completely forgot.

“I gather that much but,” Inuzuka said and his lips stretched into a smirk. “Dude, are you banging your neighbour?”

Uzumaki quickly straightened up, his cheeks red, hands around a folder.

“No!” he yelled and marched back to smiling Kiba. “I told you that I’m making decorations.”

“Yeah, well, you are also too giggly to be JUST making decorations.”

Uzumaki pushed the folder into Kiba’s chest and moved out of his room. Kiba trotted right after him, wiggling his brows.

“Tell Hinata, she can give it back whenever she wants.”

“Copy that, now back to your neighbour,” Inuzuka said with a big smile. “What’s the deal?”

“The deal?” Uzumaki repeated. 

“Yeah, like, do you just hang out or, it’s some kind of friends with benefits or do you want to get married and have dogs together?”

Naruto stood in the middle of the hallway, his brows furrowed. 

Well obviously he was just friends with Uchiha. He loved to hang out with him, sparing together and Uchiha’s company and snarky comments made many things better. He felt that he liked Sasuke, in the way he never liked anyone else before, and it made his heart heavy and his skin on fire, but in a good way. And damn, how much fun it would be to have a dog with Sasuke!

“Oh man,” Inuzuka whispered and moved his eyes over Naruto. “I know that look. You are so whipped!”

Uzumaki was gapping at his friend, Kiba’s maniacal laughing ringing in his ears, Inuzuka’s hand firmly clasping him on the shoulder.

“Man, you are so in love! Fucking finally! IN LOVE WITH YOUR NEIGBOUR!”

So they were doing that. In the middle of the hallway, in the dorms, with Sasuke behind the wall.

“Kiba! Shut the fuck up!”

“No, man, this is a revenge after you shout out I have a crush on Hinata, when we were at Neji’s.”

“It was like five years ago! And now she is your girlfriend! So you’re fucking welcome!”

“Fiancée, man,” Kiba corrected, with a slick smile. “Fiancée.”

“Yeah, congratulations. Now go away!”

Kiba’s laugh was booming around the halls for another few minutes and Naruto was glad he was away because otherwise he would have one friend less. He went back to Sasuke’s room with his heart squeezing in his chest, but he was welcomed with the smell of his favourite tea fleshly brewed and he felt a little bit better. He could tell by the playfulness in Uchiha’s eyes and easy smirk tugging at his lips, that Sasuke was in the incredible good mood for the rest of the evening.


	2. My blood and yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 with surprised discoveries, few quick history lessons and Naruto's epiphany at the wrong time

It was Friday and they were driving to Uzushio for Uzumaki’s family gathering.

Naruto was singing-shouting KISS songs the whole way, including all the drums and guitar parts and Sasuke was amazed how little the seatbelt could hold the blond in one place. His hands were everywhere, a water bottle used as improvised microphone, his body wiggling around the seat, his feet stomping to the beat. At one point, Sasuke needed to drag him back from the window when Naruto somehow got a hold of the buttons and managed to put the windshield down to sing to some elderly lady _“You make me rock hard.”_

“Okay, so the next song is dedicated to my friend, Sasuke Uchiha , the finest bastard of them all, the song is… _“I was made for loving you.”_

Sasuke sighed, one hand massaging his temple, the other on the steering wheel.

“What a surprise” Uchiha murmured, because so far, all the songs were dedicated to him.

“Yeah, you are my only audience, who am I supposed to dedicate them to?” Naruto rasped and jumped back to the song without missing a beat.

Okay, Naruto needed to admit that he had the time of his life. He always dreamt about shouting his favourite songs while driving in the car for hours. And despite his sighing and wincing, Sasuke never made him stop singing, even when Naruto got into his personal space.

Uzumaki looked at Uchiha’s profile. Sasuke’s eyes were focused on the road, his face well-rested and handsome and Naruto felt his heart painfully hammering in his chest. He still couldn’t believe that not only Uchiha agreed to follow his fake-relationship plan, but also offered to drive them to Uzushio. Uzumaki proposed that they could switch midway, but somehow they were an hour away from the city and it didn’t look like Uchiha was willing to let go of the wheel. Naruto didn’t mind that, he could focus on performing without worrying what was happening on the road.

“Are you finally out of steam?” Uchiha’s question snapped Naruto out of his daze.

He moved his eyes from his friend to the road and brought a water bottle close to his lips with a big smile.

“Na-ah, I have lungs of steal!”

“Oh, I could hear that” Sasuke answered and took a sharp turn. “I think, every car passing us could hear you.”

“Good!” Naruto exclaimed vigorously, spilling a little bit of water. “That’s good music!”

“I doubt they could hear any music over your screams.”

“You’re such a bastard” Uzumaki said, laughing and poked Uchiha between his ribs.

“That bastard is driving your sorry ass, so you better keep your hands to yourself, you moron.”

Naruto let go of the topic, for safety reasons, and decided to occupy his hands with his phone. He shoot a quick message to his mom, that they were getting close to the hotel. Kushina sent him back a chain of emoticons with hearts and foxes and some weird looking sun, and basically she must be very excited. Uzumaki wanted to write to his friends, that he was living his dreams, when they were probably stuck at work, but Sasuke’s voice stopped him midsentence.

“Exactly how fake should I be?”

Uzumaki looked at his friend with furrowed brows, eyes narrowed.

“What do you mean?” Naruto asked, his eyes looking for any clues in Sasuke’s eyes, but they were stuck on the road in front of them.

“If I am your “boyfriend”, how should I behave for your family to believe it?”

“I don’t know” Uzumaki shrugged and went back to his phone. ”I’ve never brought anyone to those type of family gatherings.”

Uchiha was silent for a moment and Naruto was sure that black eyes switched to him for a moment, but when he looked at Sasuke, he was focused on the road.

“You must have good excuses back then, if your mom wasn’t pushing you to bring your partner.”

Uzumaki finally sent the message to his friends and his hands went behind his head.

“Nope” he said, popping the last “p”. “I’ve never been in a relationship so, my mom didn’t have to push me or anything.”

Naruto had his eyes on Uchiha’s profile, so this time he was ready, when Sasuke’s gaze landed on him. It was only a few seconds, as if Uchiha was checking if Naruto was honest with him, but he turned back, with a small smirk playing on his lips.

“That explains a lot” Sasuke said and Naruto heard that smugness in his voice that made his blood boil.

He felt the urge to grab Uchiha’s arm, but he knew that would be fucked up, because Sasuke was driving and they didn’t need a fistfight on their way to the hotel. He took a big breath and let it go, his eyes on the road, away from that playful smirk.

“I just want you to behave whatever you like. My family is a bunch of weirdoes, so be prepared, but we have big hearts and we care about each other, so… I want to have a good time with them and you.”

Naruto saw they were getting closer to the destination, because he started recognizing some of the passing places. Sasuke was silent for a moment, but then Naruto heard the music blasting at the full volume again and he smiled to himself.

_________________________________________________________________________________

They were finally in front of the hotel. Sasuke was unloading their luggage from the trunk, while Naruto was humming a song and looking around the area. He pointed at different buildings and kept describing Sasuke what they were, when his eyes landed on some people heading their way.

“Uncle Hashirama!”

Naruto sprinted to the two figures walking with their suitcases towards the hotel.

“Naruto! Bright as always!”

Both man exchanged a strong hug, with big smiles. Naruto heard that Sasuke closed his trunk with loud bang and his head turned in the direction of the car.

“Oh, and um, this is Sasuke.”

Uzumaki saw Uchiha approaching them with cautious steps, however Sasuke wasn’t looking at him or his uncle. His narrowed eyes were boring into the man next to Hashirama and Naruto knew that if the look could kill, Sasuke would murder the other man on the spot. 

“Oh! Are you Uchiha?” Hashirama asked with intent face, taking closer look at Naruto’s friend.

Sasuke’s eyes snapped to Senju, and Hashirama’s lips stretched into a knowing smile.

“I know that eyes! You are definitely an Uchiha! My Uchiha look at me the same way when I’m in trouble!” Hashirama laughed and threw his arm around Madara’s shoulder.

Naruto’s eyes were moving between Sasuke, whose gaze was as intense as the other Uchiha’s in front of him, both with their chins raised, some kind of sparkles passing between them. Uzumaki stole a few glances at the other man. 

“Um, I’m Naruto Uzumaki.”

Naruto stretched his hand towards the older man and he turned his head towards him, breaking the eye contact with Sasuke.

“Madara Uchiha.”

Uzumaki offered him a small smile, but he couldn’t help himself and his eyes shifted to Sasuke, when the other man had mentioned his last name.

“I think we don’t have to introduce you guys, right?” Hashirama joked, moving his happy eyes between Sasuke and Madara.

“No, you don’t have to” Sasuke answered and his tone made Naruto shivered.

“Sasuke.”

Madara’s voice was strict, but Sasuke looked unfazed. What the fuck was going on? That’s how Uchiha greet each other?

“I need to move my car from the driveway. Would you be okay with the luggage?” Sasuke asked and thank god, his voice was back to normal.

Naruto only nodded his head and saw Sasuke turning around and walking to his car. Something in Naruto’s gut was telling him to stop his friends, his hands were itching to wrap around pale wrists, but Uzumaki held tightly to the luggage. He felt his uncle hand on the his back and they were moving towards the hotel again. Naruto sighted quietly. It’s not like Sasuke could drive away… Right?

____________________________________________________________________________

“Kushina, Minato!” Hashirama was the first one who reached his parents and hugged them both with great force.

“Uncle Hashirama! It’s been sooo long!”

They were standing in the lobby, Naruto saw like his uncle covered his mom with his arms and Kushina squeezed him as hard as she could. Her violet eyes skimmed over Naruto, before moving to the other man.

“Oh, this is my partner, Madara” Hashirama introduced and Madara bowed a little before stretching his hand.

“Uchiha Madara” he said and exchanges greetings with both of Naruto’s parents.

“ Oh, Uchiha?”Kushina’s eyes widened a little bit, small smile on her lips. ”Just like…”

“Sasuke, yes, we’re family” Madara finished her sentence.

“What a coincidence, right, Minato?”

His dad nodded his head with a smile and moved to hand two men their room keys, explaining some stuff about today’s plan.

“Speaking of Sasuke…” Kushina started, her sharp eyes turning towards her son. “Naruto! Where is your boyfriend?”

Uzumaki’s heart started hammering quicker after that remark and he would need to get used to that term pretty quick.

“It’s good to see you too, mom” he mumbled and opened his arms a little bit.

Kushina’s eyes soften, and before Naruto could react, his arms were full of his smiling mother.

“Tell me” she started, and something in her voice was telling him that he might be in troubles. “Is this one of your pranks? Did you make my hopes high and then decided to come alone?”

His mother tighten her grip around his shoulder and he almost forgot about Kushina‘s exceptional strength.

“Or did you scare that nice boy away on your way here? Oh god, Naruto, did you try to sing in the car?”

“Mom!”

Naruto was trying to wiggle his way out of this, but to no avail. Fortunately his dad came to his rescue and approached them with soft smile and shining eyes.

“Welcome home, Naruto.”

Kushina finally let go of him and Naruto gladly threw his arms around his father’s neck with a big smile.

“It’s good to see you, dad.”

Minato squeezed his son, even closer to him and Naruto started laughing.

“Sasuke!” his mom shouted and Uzumaki untangled himself from his father’s grip.

Uchiha was walking towards them, Naruto’s backpack over his one arm and Uzumaki breathed a sigh of relief. He saw his mom exchanging greetings with Sasuke, the man bowed before stretching his hand, but Kushina pulled him into a hug, which Uchiha returned after awhile.

“Oh, and you need to meet my husband, Minato!”

Two blond heads turned towards them and his dad stretched his hand towards Sasuke with a smile.

“Minato Namikaze, it’s nice to finally meet you, Sasuke”

Uchiha clasped their hands and looked between him and Naruto. Uzumaki smiled to him, because he knew what must have been going through Sasuke’s head. He often heart he looked really similar to his dad. But Uchiha only held his gaze for a moment before moving his eyes to the spot over his shoulder. Naruto’s head turned in that direction and saw Madara and Hashirama waiting for the lift, and Uchiha’s eyes were back to cold and narrowed. Okay, so maybe he didn’t know what was going on inside Sasuke’s head…

_____________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was trotting behind Sasuke, silence stretching between them. They were heading to their room, Uchiha’s eyes scanning different plates, looking for 207. Blue eyes weren’t leaving Uchiha tense arms, every time their gazes met, Sasuke’s eyes were getting colder and more distant.

Finally, Uchiha pushed the door to their room open and silently moved inside. It looked like every hotel room, with a big bathroom on the right, a mini bar, a king size bed….

“Um, I can ask my mom for a different room” Uzumaki stated, shifting his gaze between the furniture and Sasuke.

“It’s fine, Naruto, it’s just a bed.”

Uchiha was standing in front of the window, his back turned towards Naruto. Okay, so something was definitely going on and he just didn’t understand the whole drama… but why, of all the people, he was getting some kind of silent treatment from Uchiha?

“How should I call you?” Sasuke asked finally breaking the silence, still looking outside the window. ”Uzumaki, Senju, Namikaze?”

Naruto furrowed his brows. Uchiha’s stiff voice was getting on his nerves and the way he hissed all the names, made his fist bawled.

“Uzumaki, of course. What is your problem?”

“Then why there is a head of Senju clan on Uzumaki family gathering?”

Naruto looked like Sasuke’s shoulders tensed and his own fists were clenching on his sides.

“We’re family” Uzumaki started, a little bit confused. “My grandma from my mother side was married to one of the Senju brothers, so… Is it all about uncle Hashirama?”

Before Sasuke had turned towards Naruto, he took a big breath. His intense gaze was burning into blue eyes, but Uzumaki knew better than to look away. The familiarity of that hot gaze hit him, because Sasuke used to look at him like that before they had became friend, and if Uchiha wanted to go back to being enemies, he needed some fucking answers.

But something in Sasuke’s eyes shifted and he let go a big sight, before moving closer to Naruto.

“How much do you know about Senju clan history?” Uchiha asked, crossing his arms.

Naruto pondered for a moment, his brows furrowed, because that was a weird question.

“Um, not much?” he admitted.

Sasuke was sighing awfully a lot today, but he wasn’t spitting fire anymore, so that was a good sign.

“So I guess you didn’t know that Uchiha and Senju were once mortal enemies.”

“What?!” Naruto exclaimed loudly, but Sasuke continued.

“They were fighting over Konoha’s lands and there was even a special regulation that upon seeing the member of the other clan, they were obligated to kill them on the spot. Of course, the hate lessen throughout the years and it finally led to the complete alliance between Uchiha and Senju about 50 years ago, but the older generations still hold a lot of grudges over spilled blood. “

Naruto listened to Sasuke’s words with slightly widened eyes and agape mouth. How came he never heard about that? He wasn’t really interested in history and as Sasuke said, it happened a long time ago, but still.

“It’s not all” Sasuke took a big breath and turned his gaze back to the window. “My clan… has rules. Rules that were created during wars and which every respected Uchiha should follow. Our main domain is to serve our clan with honour and pride, protect our family and pass the Uchiha’s order to the next generation.”

His black eyes moved towards Naruto and Uzumaki was trying to process all of the information.

“The heir is something required and even if the rules concerning arranged marriage are more flexible now, homosexuality is something shun upon. Of course, the younger generations disobey those ancient regulations, but… the closer you are to the head of the clan, the stricter the rules. So you can imagine what it’s like to see the head of Uchiha clan being together with a head of Senju clan.”

Uzumaki got that. He might not understand the historical background and all the rules, but despite all of the Hashirama and Madara’s turmoil, something else was going through his mind.

“Are you in big trouble coming here with me?” he asked, his big blue eyes full of concern.

Sasuke looked surprised by that question, but Naruto saw a small smirk tugging at his lips, so maybe it wasn’t that bad.

“Uncle Madara is going to resign next year and my dad will become a head of the clan.”

“Oh my fuck!” Naruto yelled and threw himself on the bed, his hands covering his face. “Sasuke, I didn’t know your uncle will be here! Fuck! I’m sorry, I’ll tell my mom it was all a joke and tell her how fucked up it all is and… and.. fuck… Sasuke, I didn’t know…”

Naruto felt thousand different emotions and thoughts swarming him. He just wanted to relax and have fun, but there they were, between some fucked up clan’s politics and Sasuke might be in trouble, because Naruto dragged him there.

Uzumaki felt the mattress dipping under the other weight right beside him.

“Yeah, I get that you didn’t know, usuratonkachi” Sasuke said, with his usual teasing tone. “ But neither my uncle knew I will be here. Otherwise, he would never show up.”

“So… what now?” Naruto asked, peeking at Uchiha through his fingers.

“I’m not here to start feuds. But I’m not going to let him intimidate me. ”

“But what if he tell your family?”

“Then he’ll start a war that he wouldn’t be able to win.”

Naruto saw Sasuke standing up from the bed and moving to his suitcase. He looked at his friend’s back, the Uchiha fan embroidered near the collar, and something twisted in Uzumaki’s guts. That would be an interesting family gathering… 

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Can someone explain, why there are two members of the Uchiha clan at our table?”

All guests seated around the table turned their heads’ in different directions. Some were looking at Tobirama Senju, who was sitting at the head of the table, the other moved their gazes over Sasuke and Madara. Sasuke sat in the safe spot between Minato and Naruto, his chin proudly raised.

His uncle on the other hand… Madara was situated next to Hashirama at the other end of the long table, looking directly at the younger Senju.

“Tobirama” an inpatient voice of his wife, made him sigh. “They are our guests.”

Hashirama laid his hand on the top of Madara’s and for a moment Naruto thought his uncle would have a heart attack.

“Stop sighing, little brother and let us enjoy each other company!” Hashirama said with a big smile and motioned for everybody to start eating.

Rather during dinner or when they were moving around the hotel, Sasuke was introduced to Naruto’s whole family. After all the winter gathering wasn’t as big as the summer one. From Senju side was his uncles Hashirama and Tobirama, his uncle Nawaki with his daughter Unmei and his aunt Tsunade with her husband Dan (unfortunately their two sons and daughter were busy with children or work or both, and they couldn’t make it that time). Uzumaki’s side was represented by his aunt Mito, his cousin Karin, his mom and dad and him. He also heard that his cousin Nagato would joined them tomorrow during their trip around the Uzushio.

His uncle Hashirama asked Naruto about his studies and work, older Uchiha carefully listening to their chat. Uzumaki’s eyes wondered to their laced fingers , he could feel Madara’s gaze on him and wanted to ask so many questions, but after the talk from Sasuke, he wasn’t sure if he should.

On his right, Sasuke was engaged in the conversation with his mom and dad, and Naruto could only catch snippets of their words. There was something about cooking and mess, and his mom was laughing at something Sasuke said and Uzumaki felt the tension leaving his body. It was going surprisingly good. All conversations were pretty casual, everybody focused on their food or trying to catch up with news, so the atmosphere was light and relaxing.

Naruto was making faces across the table to the smiling and laughing Unmei, when his mom raised her voice, so everyone could here.

“So, Naruto, Sasuke, how did you meet?”

Kushina had her head resting on her hand and smile was tugging at her lips, but Naruto was painfully aware of all the eyes turning in his direction. In his head, he was trying to come up with some kind of romantic yet believable story, searching between the different memories with Sasuke, but Uchiha was the first one to speak up.

“Naruto punched me and dislocated my arm.”

Uzumaki winced and hid his face in his hands. He swore he heard his uncle Tobirama mumbling “that’s my boy”, but he was too preoccupied with pinching Sasuke on the arm to care.

“Don’t say it like that” he scowled. “You make me look like a bad guy.”

“Don’t mind his whining” Tsunade said with a big smile and intrigue flashing in her eyes. “Tell us the story.”

Sasuke wiped his mouth with a napkin and rather than looked at the people gathered around the table, he turned his playful eyes towards Naruto and Uzumaki felt like his heart might not handle all of this.

“We met at our second year at the university. It was some kind of summer festival after finals and all departments were invited. I was a part of security and my squad saw a group of students trying to smuggle some stuff into the festival, so we approached them. And out of nowhere, Naruto punched me in the face and tugged me to the ground.”

“That’s not how it happened!” Uzumaki protested, feeling the accusatory eyes of his mom boring into the back of his head.

“That’s exactly how it happened” Uchiha said with a smirk and moved his face closer to Naruto.

“I didn’t know you were with security! I saw you around the campus all the time, I thought you were picking fights with first year students!” Naruto was trying to explained, but Sasuke’s striking eyes were so distracting and his hands wanted to connect with Uchiha’s skin and it was too much.

“I had a security jacket, you usuratonkachi, how could you not see it?”

“I was too preoccupied with saving those guys to read!”

Naruto heard laughter around the table and then he remembered they weren’t alone. He moved his gaze to his family and they were looking at them both with amusement.

“And then, what happened?” Nawaki asked.

“We fought.”

“Good” Tobirama exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest with a smirk.

He heard Mito’s hushed words next to his ears, but he sent her a quick, warm glance before looking back at the boys.

“It’s in their blood to fight each other.”

“Not anymore” Madara’s deep voice boomed around the table and he was looking straight at the Tobirama.

“So, did you fall in love punching each other?” Karin chimed in sending his cousin a cheeky grin.

“Umm” Naruto exclaimed eloquently and sent Sasuke quick glance. If they were heading the “honest” path, he might as well confessed. “I mean… it started that way, but honestly I didn’t know what was pulling me towards Sasuke all that time. I noticed him the first day at our campus and I thought…I felt that there was something different about him. And then the fight happened. Kakashi, our dorm manager, said that we need to apologize to each other and staff, but that bastard just walked out off the room without a word.” 

“I had a dislocated shoulder” Sasuke answered, narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

“Oh yeah? And I have a black eye for 2 weeks” Uzumaki was pushing his face closer to Sasuke.

“ I lost my summer internship, because I couldn’t move my arm for 3 months” Uchiha stated, his head tilting and he must have saw guilt flashing in those blue eyes, because he added with a smirk. “But I didn’t mind it as much as I should…”

“Yeah and I went to the four-grade graduation ceremony in my primary school covered in makeup“ Naruto laughed at the memory. “And as a “punishment”, Kakashi put us in rooms next to each other. So I guess it was all worth it.”

He was looking at Sasuke and Uchiha was smiling at him and oh god, for a moment, Naruto actually forgot that they weren’t together. He felt his uncle Hashirama’s hand on his back and could swear he saw how his brown eyes turned glossy, before he hugged him with a laughter.

______________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was very busy talking with Unmei about some weird animal TV show, when Nawaki caught her yawning midsentence.

“I guess it’s time for you, missy” he said and stretched his arms to take her from Naruto’s lap.

“Noo, I want to stay with uncle Naruto” she snuggled closer to Uzumaki and Nawaki sighted.

“Uncle Naruto would be here tomorrow so the sooner you go to bed, the sooner tomorrow will come.”

Unmei wrinkled her nose and nodded her head.

“Make sense” she said, but still didn’t budge from Naruto’s laps.

“I can take you to your room, but you know, no funny business, you are going straight to bed, because you need to have a lot of energy for tomorrow ” Uzumaki proposed, smiling at the girl in his arms.

Unmei smiled back at him and nodded her head. But before Naruto could move from his spot, her small arm stretched and her hand grasped the hem of Sasuke’s shirt. Uchiha turned his head and looked at the girl. She didn’t say anything only looked at him with her big brown eyes and blushed cheeks.

“I guess I go with you” Uchiha said with small smile directed towards the girl.

She smiled back at him and slipped from Naruto’s laps to stand next to Sasuke’s chair. Nawaki handed Naruto their key with a soft “thank you” and he reached for the girl’s hand, but she was already walking with Sasuke towards the exit of the restaurant.

“I think she might have a new favourite uncle” Nawaki chuckled and patted Uzumaki on the back.

Somehow Naruto wasn’t surprised at all.

________________________________________________________________________________

After they came back from Unmei’s room, it was already pretty loud around the table. Hashirama and Tsunade ordered few bottles of shōchū and Naruto saw two small glasses already waiting for them.

“Okay, everyone, tomorrow we are heading to the city around 10 am so please, take that into consideration” Minato was able to remind everyone about their plans, before the loud toast could be heard in the restaurant.

Naruto downed his drink in one go, challenging gleam in his eyes and looked at Sasuke, who did the same with a small smile.

“Okay, someone has to take the bottle way from aunt Tsunade, because we will be drunk in an hour” Naruto half-joked and his eyes were shining with mischief as the older woman turned her head in his direction.

“You better watch out, you brat. I’m going to tell all your embarrassing stories to your boyfriend!”

“Please do” Sasuke answered with smug smirk.

“Jokes on you, I don’t have embarrassing stories” Naruto huffed his cheeks and sized his aunt up with his piercing gaze.

“Oh yeah, so how about the time you thought that you could read toads’ minds?” Tsunade said with a smirk.

“Or when you climbed the tree and we needed to call the fire department to drag you down?” Karin helpfully added.

“Or after your wisdom teeth removal you thought you were a big fox with nine tales who was sent by aliens to destroy the world. I think I still have a video of you spinning around trying to catch your tails. Hold on.”

Kushina moved from her seat to get close to Sasuke and of course the whole table was laughing. 

“Oh god, no, mom!” Naruto yelled, when he heard his own mumbling from the video and reached towards Sasuke to cover his eyes. “Don’t look, Sasuke!”

Kushina ruffled his hair with a giggle and he could see his dad coming to his rescue and reaching for his mother’s arm. Sasuke peered Naruto’s fingers out of his face and Uzumaki’s hands instinctively grasped Uchiha’s. He held them gently and waited for Sasuke’s reaction, but his friend only turned his head to listen to Tsunade’s story and let their laced hands fell into his lap.

_________________________________________________________________________________

At one point, when all the family members begin to mingle around the table and Naruto was chatting with uncles Hashirama and Tobirama, he lost the sight of Sasuke. To add the fuel to the fire, he also wasn’t able to catch Madara’s long greying hair anywhere. He turned his head and his eyes locked with Senju.

“Let’s grab our other halves.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Sasuke was talking with Dan about his son’s research, when his eyes caught a glimpse of black figure brushing past him and disappearing on the balcony. He excused himself and moved in the direction of the terrace. When he opened the door, fresh, icy air hit him in the face and despite stepping outside without the jacket, he welcomed the cold.

He moved to the railings, his eyes stuck on the water below. He could sense the presence of his uncle in the dark corner of the balcony.

“How many people know?” Sasuke asked, without looking at the other Uchiha.

Madara was silent for awhile, but Sasuke was patient, his gaze set on the black water of Uzushio.

“Izuna knows” Madara admitted. “Obito saw us once, but I don’t think he connected the dots.”

Sasuke held tight to the cold railing and spat with contempt. Without a word, he turned around and was ready to leave, but his uncle voice made him stop with a hand on the knob.

“Sasuke. I don’t need to tell you that my lips are sealed and so should be yours.”

Young Uchiha turned his head in the direction of his uncle. Madara was shorter than him, but his back was straight as arrow despite his age and he oozed elegance and pride. He knew that his uncle could be intimating especially as a head of Uchiha clan, but despite his fearful looks and mandatory tone, he wasn’t able to meet Sasuke’s eyes.

“Listen” young Uchiha started. ” I don’t give a fuck if you tell our family.”

Sasuke took a step closer to his uncle, his voice demanding and bitter.

“I’m not going to act like there is something to be ashamed of.”

His uncle was still looking at the forest far away, his face emotionless.

“Someone with your position and experience could finally change something. There are lots of rules that are valid, values that our clan follows that make me proud to be an Uchiha. And that one… We both know it’s bullshit. It was supposed to help our clan grow, but it only divide us and generates more lies.”

Sasuke’s voice was on the edge of whispering and hissing, his face looming close to Madara’s profile. The head of Uchiha clan let go a sigh and turned his burning eyes towards Sasuke.

“My relationship is only my concern, I’m not oblige to state my status in front of the whole clan. Besides, you know very well that they are no written prohibitions regarding that topic. It’s not a taboo” Madara stated and raised his chin to look Sasuke in the eyes.

Young Uchiha only smirked at him, his eyes cold.

“If it’s not a taboo, then why can’t we name it out loud? ”Madara’s eyes narrowed at him, but Sasuke continued. “Why there are so many young people turning away from the clan afraid of their lives and their loved ones? Why they are hiding who they are? Why YOU are hiding?”

Madara looked at him, black eyes sizing up the black and he looked like he wanted to say something back, but the door to the balcony opened and two heads peeked through them.

“Are they here?” Hashirama asked behind Naruto’s back.

“I don’t know” Naruto whispered, looking around the balcony and finally captured the glimpse of Sasuke in the far corner. “Oi, Sasuke!”

Young Uchiha turned towards Uzumaki and walked up to him, leaving his uncle behind.

“It’s so cold! How could you stand here like that?” Naruto asked, shivering when a stronger gust of wind hit him.

“Uchiha have fire in their blood and we don’t get cold” Sasuke answered with a straight face and tugged Naruto back to the restaurant.

“That I won’t believe!” Uzumaki exclaimed pretty loud, but nevertheless touched Sasuke’s arm to test that.

Naruto’s eyes moved away from Uchiha and looked at his uncle, who stayed on the balcony, warm eyes set on something in the dark corner.

________________________________________________________________________________

Around 1 am, everyone was waking to their rooms pleasantly tipsy. The oldest generation vanished around 11 pm, but the rest of the guests stayed a little bit longer and enjoyed each other company without spilling more alcohol, saving their energy for tomorrow’s party.

Naruto was sprawled on the bed with his limbs stretched like a starfish. He was still in his formal clothes and listened to the running shower.

He couldn’t stop smiling after today’s dinner, it went so well. Not only Uchiha fitted perfectly with his family, but also he didn’t seem to be bothered by their behaviour. Of course, the madness would start tomorrow when there would be no limits of alcohol and with all the dancing, the hell would get loose.

Uzumaki lifted his head when he heard the door of the bathroom opening and Uchiha walked into the room.

“Are you serious?”Naruto caught himself saying it out loud.

Sasuke’s black eyes looked at him from beneath his wet bangs and Uzumaki felt the heat in his belly growing.

“You are going to bed in that?”

Sasuke was towelling his head, standing across Naruto, only in his gym shorts. And of course they were riding low, exposing his hip bones and Uzumaki was a tipsy, weak man, who moved his eyes all over his friend’s body.

“Would you like me to take it off?” Uchiha said with a smirk, one hand hooking at the waistband of his shorts.

“No!” Naruto yelled and his cheeks became extremely warm, and god, Sasuke was laughing at him.

“Then what’s the problem?”

Uzumaki looked at him, brows furrowed. Yeah, exactly. What was his problem… Why the image of Sasuke in those short, clinging shorts made his blood boiled and his breath uneven. Sure, bastard might be attractive, with his high cheekbones and almond eyes and chiselled body and Uzumaki’s hands might be reaching towards him to touch him and…

Naruto took a sharp breath and brought his hands closer to himself. Oh, fuck. So HE was the problem. He and his attraction towards Uchiha, which started to take over.

He held to the white sheets, when Uchiha hanged the towel back in the bathroom and walked towards the bed.

Naruto saw Sasuke getting underneath the sheets, his legs pushing Uzumaki to move from Uchiha’s side. He switched to laying on his back now, watching like Sasuke typed something on his phone.

Despite his hammering heart, it felt so blissful to just lay here, next to Uchiha, when his bones were itching after a long day and his mind was clouded from alcohol and Sasuke’s scent . And Naruto couldn’t deny any longer that he wanted to end every day like that. Exhausted but so unbelievably happy. He bored his eyes into Sasuke’s profile, watching like some drops of water made their way from his hair, down Sasuke’s neck and then sliding to his chest.

“People changed their clothes before going to bed, or at least strip” Sasuke explained and his deep voice made Uzumaki shivered.

Naruto frowned and covered his face with his arms. Fucking Uchiha and his fucking attractive everything.

“I know that. I’m just too tired to move…” he mumbled, shifting his arms just a little bit, to see Sasuke’s face. “Will you still love me if I don’t shower?”

“You only have a fake relationship to lose” Uchiha said not taking his eyes from the phone.

“Don’t say it like that” Naruto winced.

He knew Sasuke meant it as a joke, but the continuous reminding that they were not in fact together became painful. He wanted to push Sasuke in the arm, but his gut feeling was telling him that if he reached his hands to touch Uchiha’s skin, he might not let go.

_______________________________________________________________________________

“Cousin time!”

Naruto felt Karin’s hand grabbing his shoulder and pushing him closer to her. They were walking around the port, heading to the winter fair. Uzumaki had his eyes on Sasuke, who was walking ahead with his cousin Nagato on his right and with Unmei on his left. Apparently, Nagato used to do businesses with Sasuke’s brother, so after their introduction during breakfast, they found a common topic for conversation.

Before Karin snatched him, he had been walking with Unmei. They’d created a beautiful duet and been singing “Uchikubi Gokumon Doukoukai” since they left their hotel. At one point, the little girl had asked Naruto if it would okay if she went to uncle Sasuke for a bit and Naruto almost started tearing up, when he heard her calling Sasuke that. He felt his heart painfully squeezing in his chest, when he saw Uchiha automatically reaching his hand for Unmei to hold. So when Karin approached him and forced him to lower his head to level with here, he was caught off guard.

“So tell me, my dear little cousin” she started and Naruto already hated this. “How much did you pay him?”

Naruto wrinkled his nose and was waiting for Karin to explain. She tugged him closer, their forehead almost touching and jerked her head in the direction of Sasuke.

“Why would I pay him?” he asked confused. Karin let go of him and honestly he was glad, it was troublesome to walk like that, but her knowing gaze was still pointed at him.

“Let’s be real. There is no way that guy like him would be with you. He is so out of your league, little cousin. So is he like some kind of model or what?”

“What?! Out of my league?!” he raised his voice and he saw his uncle Hashirama turning his head towards them, but Madara tugged at his sleeve and pointed at one of the buildings and Senju left them alone.

“Yeah, look, him…” Karin said and pointed at Sasuke who was wearing a dark blue jeans, black boots, his funnel neck wool cashmere coat. “… and you.”

Karin moved her gaze all over his body, he was wearing a dark orange puffer jackets, joggers and a beanie.

“Yeah, well, maybe we have different fashion tastes” Naruto exclaimed and stuffed his hands in the pockets. He really didn’t like where this conversation was going. 

“That’s just a start. You’re like on completely different levels.”

At that moment, Sasuke turned his head and locked his eyes with Naruto. He smirked at Uzumaki and Naruto’s lips involuntary twitched. 

Yeah, okay, he got the point. Uchiha looked good, was smart and witty, yadda, yadda. And of course Sasuke would have those fancy clothes, his work required that and Naruto’s profession did not exactly give him chances to walk in suits.

“Well, maybe he is with me because of my exceptional personality” Naruto boasted and stack his tongue at Karin, because seriously, what was her deal.

“Naruto, we told him yesterday that you thought you were some toad sage for 4 years and he’s still here. Hell, he even brought you breakfast to bed! Like what the fuck?”

Oh yeah, he’d overslept in the morning and hadn’t walked down for breakfast . Sasuke said that it was hell to wake him up, so after few minutes he’d just stopped bothering. And it wasn’t exactly breakfast to bed as much as Uchiha’d slammed the tray of food on the table and exclaimed they were heading to the city in 20 minutes and he didn’t want to hear Naruto complaining about being hungry.

Uzumaki looked at Karin’s frowning face and smirked at her.

“Are you jealous?” he asked and when his cousin cheeks became red, his smirk widened.

“Shut up, I’m not!”she punched him in the arm, when he started laughing. “I’m just suspicious!”

Naruto hummed and brought his arms behind his head. They walked in the silence for a while and finally Karin let out a loud sight.

“So he is not a model?”

“Nope.”

“And his not here because of money or some bet?”

“Nooope.”

“And you love him?”

Naruto gulped at loud, because fuck. It was a strong word… He definitely felt a lot of things towards Uchiha and he wondered if it could be capture in that one word.

“I guess so” he finally answered, not taking his eyes from Sasuke.

“Well, good” Karin said and he turned his head towards her. Small smile was tugging at her lips as she adjusted her glasses. “Because you look really happy together and it would be a shame if it turned out to be fake.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was trying really hard not to think about Karin’s words, while they were getting closer to the fair. But every time he looked at Sasuke, he couldn’t stop the guilt tugging at his guts. Because at one hand their so-called relationship was oh so fake, but on the other… his feelings towards Sasuke were absolutely real.

He was walking behind his mom, and thanked god that his family was so talkative and loud, because no one noticed that he became suspiciously quiet. Of course, Uchiha was aware that something was up, Naruto wasn’t able to hold his gaze longer than few seconds. But he felt like crumbling under Sasuke’s deep gaze, his heart was hammering and oh god, why was he having a revelation of his first love in the middle of the street with his family around him.

He felt so weak and small, because he understood that Uchiha was bending some ancient rules for him, going on some metaphorical war (at least he hoped it was metaphorical) with the head of his clan, and Uzumaki was being a little bitch, who couldn’t look Sasuke in the eyes because he felt like melting. Now, he was pissed at himself for acting like a little school girl around her crush, who struggled with her feelings and honestly, that wasn’t him at all.

He saw his family stopping next to the gates and his mom and dad were talking about plans for today, but honestly Naruto was more focused on getting his shit together. 

Okay, it was time for a real talk with himself. So what if he liked Sasuke that way? It wasn’t changing that much in their connection. Sasuke didn’t seem to share his clan’s mentality about same sex relationships, so he wouldn’t hate Naruto because of his feelings. Considering the way Sasuke behaved around him, he could affirm that they were friends and that was a good start. He could work with that. He was Uzumaki Naruto after all, he was stubborn, hard-driving and even if Uchiha didn’t feel the same way, he would at least try his luck! There was so many unexpected situations jeopardizing their good time during the gathering and Naruto refused to be one of the people, standing in the way to successful family meeting.

_______________________________________________________________________________

They were running around the fair for 2 hours and Naruto was bouncing around Sasuke like a little ball. He insisted that Uchiha must tried the zensai from one of the stands and before Sasuke could say anything, he was ordering for them.

“Just order one, we can share” Sasuke said, before disappearing among the mob. 

Uzumaki was waiting in line for their zensai and he looked around to see where Uchiha went. His hands were clasped firmly around the small bowl as he moved around people to find Sasuke. Finally he spotted a familiar black head, turned in the direction of one of the sculptures.

“It’s based on the local legend, you know.”

Sasuke’s eyes moved from the sculpture towards him and Naruto munched on some mochi from the soup. The monument represented a woman with stretched hand towards the boat, and the other combing through her long hair, which were falling on the ground covered with flowers.

“Are you ready for a little story?” Naruto asked with a big smile and dug his elbows in Uchiha’s ribs.

“Oh great, more of your talking.”

“Shut up, it’s a cool story!”

Sasuke smirked, hiding his hands in his coat and waited for Naruto to continue. 

“During war time in Konoha, when clans were fighting over the lands, one of them decided to cut down the Uzumaki clan. People from my clan were mostly fishermen and they wanted to stay out from the war, but the other clan was bigger and more powerful and they wanted Uzumaki’s access to the port. But! One of the samurai fell in love with a daughter of the head of Uzumaki clan and wasn’t able to complete the order of killing her parents. So he warned them about the massacre and my clan decided to flee from Konoha, the night before the assassination. They left on their boats and shipped all the way to Uzushio, where they started a new life. So when the other clan came, the grounds were empty. The samurai thought that it might be enough, no one was killed, the lands belong now to his clan… But the elders saw him as a traitor, because he went against the orders of his own clan, so he was sentenced to death. The Uzumaki girl with the most beautiful long red hair, she couldn’t stand the separation from her lover and she wanted to see him one last time. In order to disguise herself as one of the fisherman, she cut her hair and sailed back to Konoha to see him. It is said that she buried him along with her hair and in that place grow the most beautiful spider lilies in all Konoha, which were water every day by her tears till the day she died.”

Uchiha’s eyes were sliding along the curves of the monuments and Naruto was looking right at him.

“This monument supposed to remained us of our bond with Konoha and that one needs to be prepare to lose something to gain something.”

Sasuke moved his gaze to Uzumaki and his eyes were intense and raw with emotions and Uzumaki never saw him like that.

“Do you agree with that?” Uchiha asked and Naruto felt a need to look away, but he was afraid they would lose that moment.

“I mean, there were different times back then, right? I believe that you could always talk with someone and convince them that there are other options. More peaceful and less bloodier.”

“What if there is no other solution?”

“Then I would create one.”

“What if it won’t work?”

“Well, I wouldn’t give up till I find a way!”

Sasuke’s lips curved in a small smile and his eyes became warm, and Uzumaki was smiling back at him.

“Is it about my hair? Do you want me to cut my hair for you?” Naruto teased, digging his elbows in Uchiha’s ribs. “I would do that.”

“No need. You look quite good like that” Sasuke admitted with a smirk and before Naruto could respond, Uchiha’s gaze moved to his hands. “Did you eat the whole thing?”

Uzumaki snapped back to now empty bowl.

“It was a long story! I needed some fuel to talk!”

________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was spinning his mom around the dance floor with warm laughter. It was around 11 pm and the party was at its full swing. The music was loud, the alcohol in his belly made his cheeks warm and his laughter ringing and he looked at the his mom with cheerful eyes.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw you that happy” she stated, dancing next to him.

“I’m always happy!” Naruto protested, flashing her his biggest smile.

“Oh, not in that way, you are beaming now.”

Well, yea, he was fired up with excitement and determination and that gut feeling finally had a name, so of course he was happy. He let his mom bring him for a hug and he saw that her eyes were a little bit glossy and she’d probably drunk a little bit too much, but she worked really hard to make this gathering work, so she deserved that.

“But I’m so glad that you found someone like Sasuke” she whispered and squeezed him. “He is so good to you and he tolerates all of your weird behaviours, don’t scare him away, please.”

“Mom! He is the weird one, he sleeps with open window even in winter and that bastard made me brush my teeth after lunch, who does that?!”

Kushina threw her head back in laughter and Naruto saw her wiping her fake tears.

“Also, I’ve never saw you that flustered, you’re perfect together” she exclaimed, while letting go of him.

Naruto couldn’t stop his smile, because Uchiha was really driving him crazy since they were back from the fair, with all his teasing and smirking, and his eyes made Uzumaki hot.

But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Can I have this dance?” their heads snapped in the direction of a smooth voice and they saw Minato standing next to them. He saw her mom lacing her arms around Namikaze’s neck with a smile and they swayed together to the rhythm of the song.

Uzumaki spotted Sasuke sitting at the bar, drinking from his whisky glass. Uchiha’s eyes were on him and my god, he needed for Sasuke to keep looking at him like that. He closed the distance between them, not breaking the eye contact. In the middle of the way, Naruto’s smirked morphed into something more sinister and Uchiha narrowed his eyes at him. Being few steps away from Sasuke, Uzumaki stretched his hand and bowed a little, with silent question. Uchiha arched his brow and now he recognized those glimpses in Naruto’s eyes and knew the blond wasn’t asking, he was challenging him.

“I don’t dance, usuratonkachi” he answered and took another sip from the glass.

“Oh, come on, Sasuke, I want to dance” Naruto wiggled his fingers and Uchiha cracked a small smile.

“You were dancing for two hours.”

“But I haven’t danced with you.”

Uchiha moved his eyes towards his glass and Uzumaki snatched his whisky and downed it on impulse. Sasuke looked at him with widened eyes.

“You are an idiot, Uzumaki” he said, but he put the glass down on the bar and couldn’t stopped smirking.

“I’m determined!”

Naruto felt the whisky burning in his throat, but Uchiha grasped his hand and it was all worth it. Uzumaki led them to the dance floor with a big smile, there was some smooth jazz playing in the background and he found a free spot in the middle of the dance floor. Naruto threw Sasuke’s hand on his shoulder and placed his own palms on Uchiha’s hips.

“So you are leading?” Sasuke asked and Naruto could see amusement in his eyes.

“Since you can’t dance” Uzumaki answered with a small shrug.

Naruto felt Uchiha’s hand pushing on his back, black eyes on blue and he felt Sasuke moving underneath his touch.

“I don’t but it doesn’t mean I can’t” Uchiha whispered and fuck, Naruto’s heart was hammering so hard that he was glad the music was blasting. Uzumaki touched Sasuke’s forehead with his own and smiled at him so wide, because damn, Uchiha could move.

____________________________________________________________________________

On the other side of the ball room, pair of black eyes was watching two boys dancing. Hashirama moved to sit next to his partner, following the eyesight of Uchiha. He furrowed his brows and tapped his finger on the table.

“Do you want to dance?” he asked with a small smile and Madara’s eyes snapped to him.

He gave his partner a small sight and shook his head.

“Look at them” Madara’s gaze was back to the boys, his hand motioning at the dance floor.

They were swaying together they foreheads touching, smiling at each other and his blood was boiling. Hashirama lent his back on the couch, his eyes trailing the moves of Naruto and Sasuke.

“I mean, they aren’t doing anything impropriate. Naruto’s hands are on Sasuke’s waist, so…”

“Why is he rubbing it in my face?” Madara cut Hashirama midsentence.

Senju brought his eyes back to Uchiha and now saw the anger and jealousy twisting Madara’s face.

“Madara…” Hashirama started and laid a hand on his partner’s shoulder.

Uchiha sighed again, but relaxed a little bit under Senju’s touch.

“He just doesn’t understand.”

Madara’s eyes were still focused at the boys. Sasuke was leaning to whisper something to Naruto and Uzumaki was laughing so loud that he was sure the whole ballroom could hear.

“Or, crazy thought” Hashirama started and moved his hand from Uchiha’s shoulder to his palm squeezing tightly around the glass. “They are the ones that finally get it.”

Madara felt the soothing touch of his partner, but he refused to let go of the glass.

“Madara, it’s no longer our story. Now, it’s theirs. And the only thing we can do now, is help them.” 

Senju was smiling warmly at him and all the memories of them being together were coming back to Uchiha. He thought about all the times they were stealing glances at each other during their clans meetings, how Hashirama hid in the shadows and sneaked into his house behind their families’ back, how his heart was shredded to pieces when he understood he was in love with his best friend from rival clan. How long he had to wait, till he could hold Hashirama’s hand like that, without being in fear, without hiding…

Sasuke’s words were continuously at the back of his head and he knew deep down that young Uchiha was right.

Because it was his own choice to keep their relationship in secret. Hashirama wanted to come out, wanted to announce their relationship as soon as he took a position as a head of his clan. He knew Hashirama fought with nail and tooth against his elders, when they wanted him to marry Mito, when they wanted him to behave according to the old rules, how he changed the rules of Senju clan…

He also remembered how Hashirama cried when Madara broke his heart after he became the head of Uchiha clan. He remembered the respect and power he gained, but he also remembered how none of it was able to sooth his pain and how his heart was aching every minute without Senju by his side. He couldn’t stay away from Hashirama for long, he came back, they fought almost to death and then Madara started talking and he couldn’t hold it any longer. He swore that he never loved anyone as he loved Senju, but his clan would come for their heads if they would know. So Hashirama took him back and swore to protect him, but Madara thought that he was the one protecting Senju by hiding their relationship.

And after all those years, he felt bitter that Sasuke was dancing with Naruto, without the shame, without guilt, in front of the most powerful person from his clan. He was bitter, because he never was brave enough to do that. He wanted to fight those rules, he wanted to disobey, he wanted to see his elders sizzling in wrath when he would proudly hold Hashirama’s hand in front of them. And Sasuke was doing just that, he was fighting.

And now Madara became one of the elders, he’d despised during his youth.

Maybe he wasn’t able to go against demons in his past, but now he had power and he didn’t have to be a demon from Sasuke’s life. He knew Sasuke long enough to recognize that he cared about his clan and looking at him with Naruto during that weekend made him realise that he treated Uzumaki as a part of his family. He noticed that Uchiha wasn’t afraid of other people’s judgment, because in his eyes, whatever they had with Naruto was worth it. They were stronger together.

“Maybe you are right…” Madara started, turning his gaze to Hashirama and let go of the glass, lacing his fingers with his partner. “This one time.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

“So she asked me where I took you for our first date and I panicked and said, we went to the mall and we did our shopping for a dinner, you remember that time we had sushi. And she said that I might be a cool uncle but I’m not a cool boyfriend. I’ve got dragged by the 8 year old girl!”

Naruto was laughing at his own silliness, when they approached the water near the hotel. Sasuke was right next to him, smiling. The party was coming to the end, but Uzumaki insisted that he wasn’t sleepy and he wanted to go outside, to breath, to look at the stars, whatever, he just wanted more time with Sasuke. He sat on the bench in front of the lake, Uchiha’s coat resting on his shoulders, happiness bubbling inside him. Sasuke perched on the back of the bench, his eyes as dark as the water, as the night sky and fuck, it was so perfect.

“But for real, I would take you on the best date eveeeer” Naruto shouted with laughter and rolled his head at the back of the bench.

“You are so drunk, usuratonkachi” Sasuke huffed a small laugh, judging Naruto’s condition.

Okay, maybe Uzumaki had drunk a little bit more than Uchiha, but someone had to drive them back tomorrow and Sasuke’d volunteered to take one for a team and he’s stopped drinking like two hours ago. Also, he wasn’t even that drunk… He was hot and giggly from all the dancing with Uchiha, but honestly, Sasuke’s close proximity was making him more intoxicated than the alcohol.

“Na-ah, I am not drunk” Naruto protested, smiling wildly.

“Yeah, then where would you take me on a date?”

“Oh for sure I would take you to Ichiraku to grab some ramen” Naruto started and heard Sasuke’s laughter.” Why are you laughing? They have the best ramen in Konoha! The best ramen equals the best date!”

Sasuke mockingly hummed in agreement and motioned for Naruto to continue.

“Then I would take you to play some arcade games and I would kick your butt in every game, because I am so good like that.”

Sasuke shook his head with laughter, his black hair swaying in the wind, his eyes on the water and Naruto couldn’t look away. His blue eyes were soaking the image of Uchiha, being so happy and open and he wanted to see him like that every day.

“And then I would walk you home...”

“We live next to each other, Naruto.”

“Yeah, well, I would walk you to your door, like a true gentleman I am and I would wish you good night and I would kiss you and I would be the happiest man alive.”

Naruto saw how Sasuke’s eyes moved from the water towards him. Uchiha’s intense gaze was boring into his eyes, but Uzumaki liked the attention Sasuke gave him. He could stare as long as he needed, Naruto knew who he wanted and sure as hell, he would find a way to get him.

He sprawl on the bench, with cocky smile playing on his lips, not letting Uchiha back down.

“Now I know for sure that you are drunk.”

_______________________________________________________________________________

After their conversation next to the lake, Naruto couldn’t shut up. He trotted after Sasuke to their room, still talking about some video game with monsters and dating and honestly, Uchiha didn’t know what was going on.

“And then you can choose who you want to date, you know, and there is this demon guy, so hot, you know, because he is a demon. From hell!” Uzumaki laughed out loud and got into the room after Sasuke. Uchiha slammed the door behind them and moved to his suitcase to pick something to wear to bed.

“So listen, you need to move to different locations and you are talking with them and you are building your stats” Naruto followed Sasuke into the bathroom, still talking. Sasuke unbuttoned his shirt and unbuckled his belt and his friend suddenly stopped talking. Uchiha smirked, when Uzumaki’s cheeks became red.

“Oh, so that’s the way to make you stop?”

But Naruto spun around and headed to the door, without a word. Uchiha stripped down and got into the shower.

“And you can take them to the prom! You know, like dancing and stuff!”

Sasuke smiled to himself, because even the running water couldn’t completely silenced Naruto’s yelling.

Even when they were in bed, Naruto didn’t stop and whispered about aliens and ninja turtles and at one point he saw Uchiha’s eyes closing and his breath even out and he was sure Sasuke fell asleep. He knew he was supposed go to sleep himself or at least stopped gaping at Uchiha, but he couldn’t turn his eyes away. The alcohol was still swinging in his belly and he felt so good next to Sasuke, he didn’t want to waste his time for sleeping. So his gaze was sliding from Sasuke’s hair sprawl on the pillow, to his long lashed, high cheekbones, slightly parted lips, his long neck, to the bruise on his arm that Naruto made few days ago… And he was wondering about Sasuke’s childhood, if Sasuke liked dogs, how was his contact with his family, and if he could listen to one song for the rest of his life what would it be and million other things concerning Sasuke. He didn’t know how long he stared at his sleeping friend, but at one point he saw Uchiha’s eyes opening and he was looking right at him. 

“Hi” Naruto said with a small smile.” You look quite dead when you sleep.”

“Yeah, unlike you, you are a nightmare to sleep with” Sasuke rasped, looking at Naruto’s body sprawl in the middle of the bed.

“What?! What do you mean?”

“You are moving so much around the bed when you sleep…” Uchiha said with a small sight and looked at Naruto’s face. “You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”

“No, not really” Uzumaki confessed.

“And why is that?”

Of course, Naruto knew the reason why but he only shrugged and flashed Sasuke his best smile.

“Sleep is for the weak!”

“We will see how strong you will in the morning.”

Naruto saw Sasuke turning around and adjusting his pillow. It was all so casual, like they were used to sleeping together. He didn’t ask Naruto to move even though Uzumaki was obviously laying on Uchiha’s side.

“Sasuke. “

Naruto smirked when he saw Uchiha’s head slightly turning towards him.

“What is your favourite colour?” 

“We are not doing this at that hour, Naruto” Sasuke huffed and covered his head with a pillow.

“Mine is orange.”

Silence.

“I would say that your favourite colour is black. You have a lot of black clothes and your room is all black and white. Also, your phone case is black and your laptop is black and…”

“Naruto, it’s 6 am, why are you still talking?”

Naruto laughed softly, because honestly he wanted to tease Sasuke a little bit, because he was in such a weird giggly mood after all of the alcohol, but now he was actually curious and he wanted to know. And the fact that Sasuke was all grumpy and tired made it even funnier. He stayed silent for a while looking at his friend’s shoulder relaxing.

“How about red? You have those red headphones and…”

“Okay, I’m turning you off!”

Naruto saw Sasuke moving quickly towards him and before he could react, Uchiha’s hands were reaching to his sides and Uzumaki started laughing. Naruto wanted to push Sasuke’s hand away, because fuck, he was so loud and it was a middle of the night, but Uchiha stopped after awhile, pinned Uzumaki’s hands to the mattress and hovered over him.

Naruto took a big breath, smile still lingering on his lips when he looked in Sasuke’s eyes.

“It’s blue.”

Uzumaki just smiled at him, wide and his eyes were sparkling.

“One more question.”

“And you will stop talking?”

Naruto nodded his head, his eyes not leaving Sasuke’s black ones. Uchiha waited for him to continue.

“What is your type?” he whispered.

Black eyes widened slightly at that question and for a moment Uzumaki thought that Sasuke might not answered. But Uchiha smirked and lowered his head, that their noses were touching so slightly. 

“Stubborn, loud” Uchiha listed. “Definitely annoying.”

Naruto took a big breath and wanted to speak, but he felt Sasuke’s finger pressing on his lips and Uchiha was smirking.

“You are not allowed to talk until breakfast.”

________________________________________________________________________________

It was the next day and Naruto swung nearly empty water bottle from one hand to another. His head was resting on the car seat and honestly, he didn’t feel so glamorous. Sasuke moved his hand and turned the volume up, but Naruto automatically reached to quiet it down with a wince.

“Not in the mood for singing?” Uchiha asked with a smirk and amusement in his voice.

Naruto knew he was enjoying his pain, and maybe he was a little bit hangover and his head might be pounding but mostly he was just tired.

“Give me two hour of sleep and I’ll be back to serenading you” Uzumaki mumbled in the crook of his arm.

“Oh, you tired? How come?”

Naruto winced, because that bastard Sasuke knew very well why Uzumaki was now so exhausted.

“I thought the sleep was for the weak” Uchiha teased, tapping his finger on the steering wheel.

Uzumaki turned his eyes to smirking Sasuke, who actually looked pretty rested and he smiled at him.

“I don’t regret anything.”

________________________________________________________________________________

It was Tuesday and Naruto was back from classes. He took a quick shower and jumped into his pyjama pants and Uchiha’s t-shirt. Iruka gave him a task to prepare some tests for first graders, so he took his folder with exercises and headed out of his room.

Naruto wondered if Sasuke would be in a mood for some Mexican food as he stood in front of Uchiha’s room. Uzumaki knocked at the door, still deep in thought about burritos. Actually he also was craving some ramen from Ichiraku, but at the same time, he always wanted Ichiraku, so there was no surprise. Naruto shifted his folder from one hand to another, his bare feet stomping on the cold floor, because damn, Uchiha was taking his sweet time with opening the door. He knocked again, this time thumping out to the beat of “ _Bad reputation_ ” and surly it would irritate Sasuke enough to speed up.

After few minutes of Uzumaki’s shuffling awkwardly in front of Uchiha’s door, the frown appeared on his face. It was the second day, that Sasuke wasn’t opening his door.

Naruto turned around and went back to his room, with a grim expression and a curse on his lips. He was tempted to just shout out to Uchiha through the door, but he’d tried that yesterday and frankly, it did nothing.

On Sunday, after their trip, Naruto had gone to sleep and woken up around 4 am, next day. When he’d tried to reach out to Sasuke on Monday, Uchiha hadn’t respond, but Uzumaki’d thought that after three days together his friend deserved some alone time.

However, now, Naruto was getting suspicious. The first thought that popped in his head was that somehow Uchiha’s clan was informed of their supposed relationship and now Sasuke was punished for breaking the rules. Uzumaki felt the anxiety pulling at his heart and he was trying really hard not to think too much about that scenario, because he would start to panic.

The second possibility was that Uchiha was busy with work and his studies. Naruto knew that Sasuke’d taken a free day on Friday to go to Uzushio and of course, Uchiha had more hours at uni than him, so it was quite logical explanation why he might be busy catching up with everything.

But at the back of his head, Naruto knew there was a third option, which let him back to his anxiety. After those three days together, Sasuke was tired of him. Of course, Uchiha would stick around as long as they were together in Uzushio, but as soon as he was back in Konoha, nothing kept him close to Uzumaki. Oh fuck, now Naruto knew how Karin must have felt when her boyfriend left her after family gathering. Except, Uchiha wasn’t even his boyfriend so he didn’t need to justify his absence.

Uzumaki jumped at the bed and covered his eyes with his arms. His mind was racing, the images of Sasuke with his friends that were much cooler than Naruto were making his heart squeezing painfully in his chest and it was all too much. Because if Uchiha was busy with work, why didn’t he call or just send a simple text. On the other hand…

Neither did Naruto.

Uzumaki quickly sat up and reached for his phone. He looked at his messages with Sasuke and narrowed his eyes. It wouldn’t kill him to write first, but it would hurt his pride if he sent a message asking about Uchiha’s well being. He might have been concern and panicking but Sasuke didn’t have to know about it. He also didn’t have to know about Naruto pounding on his door for two days straight… Uzumaki bit his lips as his fingers hovered over the screen.

_“Sparing?”_

He’d sent the message with hammering heart before he could chicken out and drove himself into madness. Now he needed a good distraction, while he will be waiting for a response.

Uzumaki was digging through one of the boxes, when he heard his phone. He leaped towards the bed and read the message. 

_“I can’t. I’m stuck at work.”_

Naruto smiled at the text, as his eyes were scanning the words back and forth. So at least he knew Uchiha was at work.

_“Boo!!! too bad cause I was in a mood to kick your ass”_

_“That would be a first time.”_

_“I definitely won the sparing with a bet!”_

_“You cheated. You started tickling me in the middle of sparring.”_

Naruto let out a short laugh, after reading the message and started to write down a response, when another message came.

_“I’m going back to work”_

Uzumaki laid for a while in his bed, looking at the messages, but it only made him want to write more to Sasuke. He threw his phone on the pillow and moved his eyes around the room. Actually, since he couldn’t find those manga he wanted, he might as well started cleaning some things and maybe he would find what he needed.

Few hours later, when Naruto was staying up way past his bed time, he heard Uchiha’s door slamming. He laid comfortably with his blankets and duvets around him, but after few minutes, he moved from his cosy cocoon to the kitchen. He trotted around, waiting for the water to boil, his fingers impatiently drumming on the counter. After awhile, he was out of the room, holding a cup of steaming ramen and knocking on Uchiha’s door.

Naruto heard the key turning in the lock and his eyes moved to look at his friend.

“Hi” Uzumaki said with a big smile, blue eyes meeting black ones.

Sasuke didn’t look surprised after he opened the door. He was leaning on the doorway, his wet hair swept back, a towel around his neck.

“Let me guess” he started, crossing his arms. “Sleep is for the weak?”

Naruto laughed at that, softly and quietly, because holy fuck it was really late, but he couldn’t contained his happiness after seeing Uchiha.

“Just two hours of sleep and I am good as new.”

Sasuke hummed and smirked at his friend. His eyes moved to Naruto’s hands and Uzumaki could see his eyes narrowing.

“Um, so…” Naruto stuttered suddenly feeling a little bit stupid, in his Garfield pyjama pants, holding ramen cup at 1 am outside his friend room.”I bet you didn’t have time to eat, because of all this work, so… yeah, it’s for you.”

Uzumaki pushed the cup into Sasuke’s hand with a small smile. It was hard to guess, what was going on in Uchiha’s head, his face stayed passive, his eyes stack at the ramen in his hands. After awhile, Sasuke let out a small laugh and shook his head.

“Ramen, of course” he commented, more to himself.

“It’s kitsune udon, you know.”

Sasuke hummed in appreciation and Naruto knew he should just let the boy eat alone and go to bed, but he couldn’t bring himself to move from the spot.

“So, I guess I’ll be going” Uzumaki said, even though he made no move. “Don’t overwork yourself, Sasuke.”

“And you tried to sleep, usuratonkachi.”

Uzumaki felt the need to reach his hands towards Sasuke, but he knew that would be weird and he might not wanted to let go after that. So with the final smile, he walked towards his own door.

“Naruto” Sasuke called and Naruto turned his head in his direction. “Let’s spar tomorrow.”

Uzumaki nodded his head enthusiastically and saw Sasuke disappearing inside his room.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Okay, but that shit needs to go.”

“Noo, Sasuke, it’s like my most treasure memory, I will not get rid of it!”

Naruto was guarding a pile of calendars located in the middle of his bedroom, while Sasuke was trying to snatch them to the bin.

“They are just calendars!”

“They are memories!”

Uchiha let go of the box, that he was holding and sighted.

“You used it as an excuses for everything” Sasuke hissed and motioned to Naruto to look at the “memory” pile.

Okay, Naruto could see Uchiha’s point. They were sorting things out for few hours, not to mention that the biggest portion of that time, Uzumaki was just playing around with the new founded things and the other portion was devoted to arguing with Sasuke about what should stay. So the “memory” pile might be taking over his room and it wasn’t much of cleaning after all.

“But it all sparks joy, Sasuke!” Naruto shouted and pushed all calendars into the “memory” pile.

“Where are you going to keep all of this?” Uchiha crossed his arms and nailed his eyes on Uzumaki, who was reaching for something under his bed.

“I can get rid of some of my cloths and keep it in the wardrobe.”

“You already own only 3 t-shirts!”

“I have at least 4 t-shirts!”

Uchiha spun around with tense face, his fists bawling, but said nothing. He decided to busy himself with sorting out the kitchen, still looking for his toaster.

Naruto was sulking, his fingers were pulling at few strings of his ukulele, his narrowed eyes at the pile in front of him. After few minutes of silence, Sasuke’s phone started to ring. Uzumaki moved his gaze to Uchiha, who grabbed his phone and walked towards the door.

“I’ll be back in 15 minutes, okay?” Naruto nodded his head, still jamming on his ukulele with sour face. “ And you better go through your memory pile one more time, because otherwise it will become a “garbage pile” and I’ll throw all of it to the bin.”

“You’ll never do it” Uzumaki hissed through his teeth and narrowed his eyes at Sasuke.

“Try me” Uchiha answered with a cocky smile and before Naruto could say something, Sasuke closed the door behind him.

He slowly dragged himself to the stack of things. Stupid Uchiha and his stupid power of persuasion. When Naruto innocently looked over Sasuke’s shoulder yesterday, he hadn’t thought it would lead him to that mess. Apparently , Uchiha was designing the interior of some random room and Uzumaki felt in love with that project. It was vibrant and colourful, and there was a special wall with flowers and it looked so cool. So when Sasuke casually remarked that Naruto’s room could easily looked like that, Uzumaki wanted to do it immediately. The only thing he forgot about was the mess. He was really trying to clean up, but he wasn’t able to let go of most of the things.

Uzumaki sighted and put the ukulele away, because he needed to focus and stayed determined if he wanted his dream room. He could take photos of some items and treasure the memory in that way. He started putting things he definitely wanted to keep in the empty box, something like his first teddy bear, the bracelet he got from Sakura for his 5th birthday, his first ticket he got with Kiba, the frog clock he found in his grandparents’ attic, the old phone etui that was signed by all his high school classmates, the dream catcher he made with his first pupils, all the artworks that were given him by children from his school, all the photos from school…

“You should have separate box for all of school memories.”

Naruto turned his head in the direction of the voice. Sasuke was standing in the doorway, a black bag in his hands.

“What did you get?” Uzumaki asked and pointed at the bag, which Uchiha placed on the counter.

“My brother dropped some pon de ring my mom made” Sasuke said and smirked when he heard Naruto’s exciting yelp. Uzumaki moved to stand up, but Uchiha pushed him gently back to the ground.

“First the pile, then donuts.”

Uzumaki mumbled something about bastards and no fun under his breath, but went back to sorting. He heard Sasuke searching the bag and Naruto thought that maybe Uchiha felt extra nice and decided to share the donuts now.

“This is for you” Sasuke said and Uzumaki automatically reached his palm in his direction. He furrowed his brows and flicked the thing around in his hands.

“That’s not a donut” he exclaimed, looking puzzling at the envelope.

“No shit” Sasuke answered and moved towards the kitchen. “It’s an invitation.”

Naruto looked at the paper, Uchiha’s crest in the front and Uzumaki carefully torn the enveloped. His eyes were scanning the text, widening with every word.

“Uncle Madara is preparing a special clan gathering in January” Naruto heard Sasuke’s voice from the kitchen, but his eyes were still on the letter. “He invited you as a guest of honour.”

Uzumaki felt a weird mixture of pride and nervousness pulling at his gut. He was honoured to be invited to Uchiha family gathering and it would be fun to spend more time with Sasuke outside their rooms or gym, but it also led to the question…

“And I will go there as your…?”

Naruto moved his eyes to Uchiha, who was arranging something in his cupboards.

“I don’t know” Sasuke answered and even though Uzumaki couldn’t see his face, he heard the smile in Uchiha’s voice. “I’m still waiting for my dream date.”

“How about tomorrow?” Naruto asked and saw Sasuke freezing in the spot. “Can we go tomorrow?”

Sasuke moved away from the cupboard and looked at him. Their eyes met and Naruto hoped Uchiha noticed that it wasn’t a joke but a serious question. The silence stretched between them, but Naruto refused to back down and kept Sasuke’s intense gaze. Finally, Sasuke turned his head back to the cupboards with a small smile.

“You can pick me up at 6.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto was laughing so loud as they were making their way back home from the date. At first Uzumaki was stressing out, mostly because he thought it might be awkward, but the moment he saw Sasuke and the bastard had audacity to point out that he came late, even though they lived next to each other, he was sure that they would be fine. They passed Naruto’s door and moved towards Sasuke’s room. Uchiha turned around, his back towards the door, his eyes on his friend.

“Okay, you can admit it now” Naruto said with a smile and motioned for Sasuke to start speaking.

“Admit what?”

“That it was your best date ” Uzumaki answered and his smile widened.

Uchiha arched his brow, his lips stretching into a smirk.

“Well, it was different from the way you describe it” Uchiha stated. “The ramen was okay.”

“It was the best!” Naruto protested, but Sasuke continued.

“ I beat YOUR ass in every arcade game.”

“Because I let you win!”

“I guess you walked me to the door, but the gentleman part… I don’t know about that.”

“You are such a bastard, Sasuke.”

Uchiha shrugged, but his eyes were laughing and he looked so good and Naruto just wanted to touch him. Naruto took a step closer and Sasuke didn’t move away, he followed his friends movements with curious eyes and a small smile.

“Goodnight, Sasuke” he whispered, his eyes boring into Uchiha’s black ones.

“Goodnight, Naruto.”

Despite the farewell, Uchiha didn’t move to unlock his doors, but he tilted his head so slightly, challenging gaze on Naruto. And Uzumaki knew those eyes very well, he was taunted and driven by them since the day one. He reached towards Uchiha, his hand on his cheek, his eyes closed and their lips met in soft kiss. Naruto felt Sasuke’s hands in his hair, pushing him closer and he was so glad, because he didn’t want to let go. His nose bumped with Uchiha’s, his lips pressing with greater force and god, he was waiting for this for so long. He felt Sasuke pulling him away, but he drove closer for the last peck, before he opened his eyes.

Uchiha was smiling at him, his eyes warm, with sparkles in them and Naruto thought he might burst from all that happiness.

“Will you be able to sleep after that?” Sasuke asked with a smirk and turned to open his door.

“Do you offer to help me fall asleep?” Uzumaki fired back and his hand captured Uchiha’s wrist before he could move into the room.

“At least, now I can shut you up pretty effectively.”

Naruto wanted to say something, but Sasuke moved closer and pressed his lips to his and Uzumaki was the happiest man alive. 


End file.
